Romanian airline Tarom has signed a Skyteam Associate Adherence Agreement, paving the way for the carrier to join the alliance as an Associate member.
Plans for Tarom to join Skyteam were initiated back in mid-2005, along with three other carriers – Air Europa, Kenya Airways and Copa Airlines. These three carriers joined in September 2007, and Tarom now looks set to become the alliance’s fourth Associate member.
No date has been given for Tarom’s inauguration into the programme, with Skyteam stating that the carrier must meet “a set of predetermined requirements, in areas such as operations, technologies and products, in order to ensure that its quality of service standards and operating performance are in line with those of Skyteam member airlines.”
Skyteam says that Bucharest-based Tarom will provide 130 additional flights to Eastern Europe and the Middle East to its alliance members. The Associate programme allows carriers to join the alliance “without necessarily having to meet all of the governing and organizational criteria” required from full members. In Tarom’s case, the airline will be represented by founder-carrier Air France in all decision-making situations with other member airlines.
The news follows Oneworld’s announcement that Mexicana will join its own alliance next year, with subsidiary Click Mexicana becoming an affiliate member (see online news April 10).
For more information visit tarom.ro, skyteam.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
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