Romanian carrier Tarom has agreed to lease a pair of Boeing 737 Max 8s from Irish lessor CDB Aviation, with the initial aircraft to arrive in late 2025.
The airline, which currently operates a mix of Airbus A318 and 737-700/800 narrowbodies, will take delivery of the first Max 8 from CDB in December next year and the second in January 2026.
Tarom also has an order for five Max 8s dating from the Farnborough air show in July 2018. These were originally scheduled for delivery in 2023, though it is not clear when they will join the fleet.
The lease agreement with CDB comes after the European Commission in April cleared a Romanian financial aid package for Tarom, which the carrier is partly using to carry out fleet renewal.
Tarom chief executive Costin Iordache says: “We appreciate our partner’s expertise and support for this investment, an important part of the development plan, where fleet modernisation is a key element to improve commercial performance and growth outlook. We look forward to introducing [the jets] into our flight schedule.”
The two Max aircraft, which will be configured with 189 seats, come from CDB’s existing Boeing orderbook and will be the lessor’s first aircraft placed with the Romanian carrier.
Tarom also operates four ATR 72-600s and two ATR 72-500s, and has an order for three more ATR 72s in place from November 2021.
