AGERPRES correspondent Doroteea Purcarea reports: Prime Minister Victor Ponta met the CEO of Qatar Airways on Sunday, and subsequently announced he submitted a call for investments in a package comprising the Otopeni Airport near Bucharest and the Romanian airline TAROM.
"I have met the Qatar Airways CEO and we discussed on the political level; I informed him on our intention to list [on the stock market] the Bucharest — Otopeni Airport and to restructure and save TAROM. (...) Bucharest is one of the airports in the region with the greatest development, but it still needs investments, because it gets near its infrastructure limits. (...) I want to proceed as soon as possible to listing, which means private capital to stay in the company (...) to extend the airport. And, in a package with it, which of course means services to all companies operating flights in Bucharest, we are seeking a partner for TAROM," Ponta announced in a conference in Doha.
He added that right now the main investor could be one of the companies in the Gulf, as "the European companies have their own problems and are not willing to invest in TAROM."
Asked whether the offer is aimed at a minority or a majority foreign stakeholder, Ponta answered: "It remains to be negotiated. From my point of view, any alternative under which TAROM is saved is a good alternative. Majority, minority, anything... Because if you look around us, [the Hungarian airline] Malev was shut down, Bulgaria was shut down, Air Serbia has a hard time, (...) so it's a resettling period on the world aviation market."
The prime minister announced that similar offers will be made these days to the Emirates and Etihad airlines, and reminded he already discussed the matter with the management of the Turkish Airlines.