Costa del Bucharest might be a stretch, but Romanian airline Tarom is putting its money where its mouth is in attempting to lure Irish tourists eastwards. The State-owned carrier this week officially launched a thrice-weekly service between Dublin and Bucharest and is hoping that all the traffic won't be in one direction.
Tarom's chief commercial officer Silvia Columb says the airline has seen "good revenues" since quietly starting the flights earlier this month and may eventually have daily flights between the two cities. The carrier previously operated the Dublin-Bucharest route from late 1999 to 2001 but stopped after yields didn't meet expectations. The decision to start up again came after Aer Lingus ceased its Dublin-Bucharest route earlier this year.
Ms Columb says that this time around, Tarom had already started to see “groups of Romanian tourists visiting Ireland” and is hopeful of building a leisure business in the other direction as “we also have very many beautiful things to show you in Romania”. The airline also wants to make Irish customers aware that it can act as a gateway to some destinations that may not always be easily accessible – from Bucharest, passengers can connect to locations such as Cairo, Athens and Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, it will seek to build on the 70,000 passengers who last year travelled between Dublin Airport and Romania. With Aer Lingus out of the picture, Tarom's main competitor will be Blu Air, the Romanian airline that continues to operate a twice-weekly service between Dublin and Bucharest.
There may still be a few cultural glitches to address however. Ms Columb reveals that crew operating the first few flights noticed that a large proportion of the free in-flight meals were being returned without being touched. Initially perplexed, the stewards eventually realised that passengers hardened by the no-frills phenomenon were declining the meals because they presumed they had to pay for them. Tarom now makes an announcement before the in-flight service to make clear that the meals are complimentary.