KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the Romanian flag carrier TAROM will code share from 1st of June 2009. This entitles the airlines to market flights under each others flight numbers.
Amstelveen/Bucharest – The code share agreement applies to connecting flights between Amsterdam and Bucharest and vice versa. Following a five-year absence, TAROM will commence a daily service between Bucharest and Amsterdam on 6 June 2009. Added to the thrice-daily service already operated by KLM, this will bring the total number of flights to four a day. KLM – under a KLM flight number – will subsequently market TAROM domestic flights between Bucharest and Iasi, Timisoara, Cluj, and Sibiu.
According to KLM’s Executive Vice President Commercial, Erik Varwijk, this cooperation holds advantages for both KLM and TAROM customers. „Our passengers will have more opportunities to travel between Romania and the rest of the world. Members of the frequent flyer programme Flying Blue will also be able to save miles on TAROM flights that are sold under a KLM flight number. The cooperation with KLM will enable TAROM customers to make optimum use of the Amsterdam hub and KLM’s global network.“
TAROM CEO, Ruxandra Brutaru, states: „This code share agreement is a step forward for TAROM’s integration in the global Alliance SkyTeam.“ TAROM will join the SkyTeam Alliance as an associate member at the beginning of 2010. KLM has been a full member of the alliance since 2004.
At the present time, TAROM operates 34 international destinations in 20 countries, within Europe, North America and the Middle East and 11 domestic destinations. By resuming the flights to Schiphol airport, the Romanian airline is enhancing the network, with both airlines taking advantage of the close code share cooperation.
