Good morning!

25.03.2012 Tarom of Romania will be adding its second daily flight from Bucharest Otopeni to London Heathrow.

New flight:

Bucharest-London-Bucharest

RO 393 19:35-21:10
RO 394 08:20-13:40

Aren't 08:20 departure slots quite valuable at LHR? Did they get them from their fellow SkyTeam partners?

Anyway, good to see them expand as they are one of the better European airlines, at least in my opinon.

JU068

How about the type of the aircraft?

It has it as a B737-300 whereas the other flight is listed as the A318. I think any Tarom aircraft is good as long as its not the B737-800!

Good news. The way BA's fares have gone recently it was about time more capacity was added to the route.

Quoting ju068 (Reply 2): I think any Tarom aircraft is good as long as its not the B737-800!

why, what is wrong with the 738?

Quoting ju068 (Thread starter): RO 393 19:35-21:10 RO 394 08:20-13:40

quite a long RON! I understand the lack of available slots in LHR, but 11:10hrs!!! It's beyond me...

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 4): why, what is wrong with the 738?

The configuration is more akin to a charter flight than regular full service airline. Very little leg room. Terrible experience.

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 4): quite a long RON! I understand the lack of available slots in LHR, but 11:10hrs!!! It's beyond me...

LHR has a curfew, maybe not enough time/slot for a late departure, and maybe the 8.20am departure is to capture connecting passengers from early morning international arrivals.

It's about time they introduced a MAN service, say twice a week to begin with (they could codeshare with BE for feed)

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 4): why, what is wrong with the 738?

They are on lease from Air Berlin in their high density config. Basically the ultimate sardine can... If they were configured like the rest of RO aircraft, they would be quite comfortable.

I would have thought that they would add a LHR rotation to the A310 they are operating OTP-TLV-OTP on daily basis. It seems that they could have squeezed in an LHR flight.



According to RO's website, this is aimed to be a feeder flight for Middle East/ "Other European cities". It seems that they are trying to make OTP a connecting through airport, which should be a pretty good one especially since the new expansion of the terminal.

http://www.tarom.ro/compania-tarom/p...-frecventa-pe-zi-catre-londra.html

[Edited 2011-11-25 08:12:01]

Quoting fpetrutiu (Reply 8):

Oh, I thought the A310 was no longer flying with them... good to hear it is!

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 4): why, what is wrong with the 738?

Like some of the other members mentioned on here, the 738 is beyond uncomfortable. On the way back we had a 737-700 (retro livery) and it could not be compared. The legroom was ok, there were tvs ...

Quoting fpetrutiu (Reply 8): It seems that they are trying to make OTP a connecting through airport, which should be a pretty good one especially since the new expansion of the terminal.

The new terminal is just amazing. I was trully impressed. Only thing missing now is to expand and improve the check in zone.
Only negative thing is that once you pass security you can't buy newspaper.

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 4): quite a long RON! I understand the lack of available slots in LHR, but 11:10hrs!!! It's beyond me...

It's a nightstop. Lots of airlines do that regardless of slots. I'm sure they could have got a 2155/2200 LHR departure slot if they had wanted

Quoting Humberside (Reply 11): It's a nightstop. Lots of airlines do that regardless of slots. I'm sure they could have got a 2155/2200 LHR departure slot if they had wanted

I think he was referring to the morning departure which seems a bit late. They leave London at 08:20, maybe they could have scheduled the departure between 06:00 and 07:00 (that is if they could get any slots at that time).

I wonder, wouldn't it take too much money to have your aircraft parked at LHR for 11 hours?

Quoting ju068 (Reply 12): I wonder, wouldn't it take too much money to have your aircraft parked at LHR for 11 hours?

thats what I'm saying... 11 hours parking around LHR will decrease your route-margin and economical performance on longterm. also, narrowbodies are made to be in the air and not sit around for 11 hours. of course, we don't know whether the slots were available or another thing we are missing; however, this seems a bit odd to me.

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 13): thats what I'm saying... 11 hours parking around LHR will decrease your route-margin and economical performance on longterm. also, narrowbodies are made to be in the air and not sit around for 11 hours. of course, we don't know whether the slots were available or another thing we are missing; however, this seems a bit odd to me.

What's the difference between having your 737 sitting on the ground at your home base or having it sitting it down at an outstation? KLM and many other airline is doing exactly the same thing as nobody wants to arrive or depart in the middle of the night. Yes, it's a little bit late in the morning, but I reckon it's very difficult to get a departure slot between 07:00 - 08:00.

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 13): thats what I'm saying... 11 hours parking around LHR will decrease your route-margin and economical performance on longterm. also, narrowbodies are made to be in the air and not sit around for 11 hours. of course, we don't know whether the slots were available or another thing we are missing; however, this seems a bit odd to me.

I agree with you, not to mention that the B737-300 is a relatively small plane (limited amount of affordable tickets) especially when they are competing with Blue Air and Wizz Air which offer cheap flights to London as well. I know it's a different airport but still the same city.
Also, one has to wonder how well know is Tarom in the UK among people who travel to the Middle East. Can they really compete with airlines like Air France, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa...

Quoting Humberside (Reply 11): The new terminal is just amazing. I was trully impressed. Only thing missing now is to expand and improve the check in zone. Only negative thing is that once you pass security you can't buy newspaper.

They're busy building an extension which i'm pretty sure will lead to a complete refurb of the check in area.
You can definitely buy a newspaper and all kinds of magazines in OTP. Just turn left as you enter the main pier and there's a nice little kiosk there.

Quoting Cyba (Reply 16): They're busy building an extension which i'm pretty sure will lead to a complete refurb of the check in area. You can definitely buy a newspaper and all kinds of magazines in OTP. Just turn left as you enter the main pier and there's a nice little kiosk there.

That's what everyone told me but there was no shop. When I get there they would tell me that there is none ... other than that the rest is more than great. It was nice to see the A310 parked at a gate there.

Quoting stylo777 (Reply 4): quite a long RON! I understand the lack of available slots in LHR, but 11:10hrs!!! It's beyond me...

More than likely to do with crew rest hours. By having this amount of time on the ground means the inbound crew the night before can operate the outbound sector the following morning. Otherwise they would have to nightstop two sets of crew and switch them between flights at LHR.

Matt

Quoting Vasu (Reply 9): Oh, I thought the A310 was no longer flying with them... good to hear it is!

One A310 is in regular sched service with Tarom, It is YR-LCA, YR-LCB is VIP configured and is the Romanian presidential/goverment use plane. (It has Tarom livery, but instead of TAROM written on it it says "ROMANIA")