Romanian flag carrier Tarom officially joined Skyteam on June 25, becoming its thirteenth member and adding 11 new destinations to the alliance.

Tarom is the largest carrier in the Romanian market in terms of seat capacity and the five largest operators are listed below:

Source Flightbase September 14-20, 2010

Tarom will provide Skyteam with a strategic presence in Eastern Europe. Star Alliance has access to the Croatia Airlines network at Zagreb, whereas Skyteam's presence in Eastern Europe is limited to Prague. Tarom will offer 20 destinations from its main hub in Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport that are not served by Czech Airlines in Prague. Notable markets include Istanbul and Amman.

The Romanian market is also of interest because it has seen substantial growth in the past five years. In the week of September 14-20, 2005, there were 71,494 weekly seats in the Romanian markets, in comparison with the same week this year, which shows over a 100% rise in scheduled seat capacity.

Tarom has also grown its network by 42% during this time, but despite this has lost 11% of its market share. Much of this can be attributed to the rise of low-cost competitor Blue Air, which commenced scheduled operations in 2005. There has also been the entrance of now Geneva-based Wizz Air, which has a presence in four Romanian markets and a 14% share of the total Romanian market.

Tarom has avoided competing head to head with Blue Air, and, interestingly, of the 791 weekly flights offered by Blue Air and Tarom, the two carriers do not compete on a single route. Tarom has its hub at Henri Coanda (OTP), while Blue Air has its main base in Baneasa. Similarly, Wizz Air only competes with Tarom on the Cluj-Madrid sector.

IATA BSP data demonstrates that Tarom is also the leading carrier in the Romanian market in terms of passenger share, as illustrated below:

Source IATA BSP data (Airport IS) April 09-10

Tarom also features in the leading city pairs operated in the Romanian market, however, the highest passenger volumes, according to IATA BSP data, are operated by Wizz Air.

SOURCE IATA BSP data (Airport IS) April 09-10

For Tarom, the move into Skyteam will provide increased connectivity for its passengers, while Skyteam will gain the leading carrier in the growing Romanian market.