Almost 3 weeks ago I flew for the first time, on the Romanian national carrier, TAROM, and unfortunately the overall experience wasn’t what I expected, because I had serious problems with a flight attendant. You can all read it here: Horrible experience on TAROM domestic flights (July 31 - Aug 1, 2007)
I was firmly convinced, at that time, that I would never set foot again on any TAROM planes… But since I shouldn’t judge everything by only one experience, I changed my mind and I was determined to fly TAROM once more. Luckily this time the flying experience was quite good, taking pictures without any problems.
Taking the decision to fly TAROM, I had to find a reasonable cheap fare, on any domestic routes they operate. I immediately found a flight from Bucharest (OTP) to Iasi (IAS), in the north-eastern part of Romania, in the historically region of Moldova (in English also called: Moldavia).
I booked the flight to Iasi on the spot, but I still had to go to a TAROM agency, to pick up the paper ticket, 6 days before the flight date. I paid a total of 41.70 € for the flight.
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OTP (Bucharest Henri Coanda / Otopeni) - IAS (Iasi International) (314 km)
19 Aug 2007, Sunday
TAROM - Flight RO703
Aircraft type: ATR 42-500
Registration: YR-ATC (First flight: 27 July 1998)
Scheduled: 10:50 AM - 11:55 AM
Actual: 10:53 AM - 11:37 AM
Flight duration: 44 min
Seat: 8A
Load factor: 29% ( 14 / 48 )
I arrived at the airport quite early, around 2 hours before the flight. Being Sunday morning, there wasn’t too much activity at the airport. I made my way to the domestic departures terminal and, even though the check-in process should have been opened by that time, there was no check-in agent. So I just had to loose some time, walking around the international departures and arrivals terminals.
TAROM // A318 (YR-ASB, YR-ASA) and B737-700 (YR-BGG)
About 1 hour and 20 minutes before departure I proceeded to the check-in counters and got my boarding pass.
Then I put all my personal belongings and my belt in the backpack, to have a smooth and swift security check… Getting through security was hassle free.
While waiting in the departures hall, there were just a few passengers awaiting for this flight, so my assumption that there is going to be a small load factor turned out to be true, as I counted only 14 passengers out of 48 seats (ATR 42-500).
We were bused to the remote stands, where the ATR fleet is always located at OTP.
Air-bridges
TAROM // ATR 42-500 // YR-ATB
We were greeted by two flight attendants, one female and one male (both in their 30s). The preparations for the flight were short and the aircraft was soon making its way on the apron, in order to take-off on runway 08R.
Romavia // 1 B707, 2 BAe 146-200 and 2 BAC 1-11
We rotated fast, due to strong headwind, which gave the aircraft some extra lift.
Blurry shot of the airport ground
Snagov Lake
The aircraft reached its altitude around FL230 (7.000 meters). The view on the left side was great, as we passed over the Carpathian Mountains.
The in-flight service began a few minutes after departure. A ham and cheese sandwich, a drink and a refreshing towel were handed. On the tray table the snack was for two persons, as I wasn’t alone on this flight.
The leather seats were quite comfortable on this aircraft.
Cabin shots.
As we continued our flight towards north, I observed through the window the beautiful landscape, with lots of valleys and green forests.
But clouds began to gather around, so the view outside was dramatically reduced in a couple of minutes.
We were soon announced that the aircraft was already descending, so we should buckle up. The layer of clouds was very low, so as soon as the aircraft brake through the clouds, we could already see the outskirts of Iasi city.
We landed on runway 33, with lots of deceleration, so the braking was very short.
There were two more aircraft standing on the apron at Iasi airport.
Comtel Air // Dassault Falcon 900B // OE-ICF
Moldavian Airlines // Saab 2000 // ER-SFA
Iasi Airport terminal building.
As I had no luggage to wait for, I got outside the airport in less than 20 seconds. I quickly headed to the city of Iasi… And this is how the trip ends.
As a conclusion, TAROM offers a good product, well suitable for the domestic routes. Since the ticket prices are quite good, I will keep flying with them, to write some more trip reports.
Hopefully you enjoyed my trip report. As usual, any comments are greatly appreciated.
Nick
