Carpatair wants to carry 630,000 passengers after introduction of new routes

Carpatair, the second most important airline after Tarom on the Romanian market, will rely on domestic flights and destinations in Greece and Ukraine in order to boost traffic by around 12% this year, to 630,000 people. The company has added a second destination in Ukraine, Odessa, and will launch a third one, Kiev. It will also consolidate its presence on the Greek market by increasing the number of flights to Athens, and introduce the Timisoara-Salonic flight, representatives explained. In total, Carpatair operated 21,000 flights last year. With new flights from Buzau, Cluj, Sibiu, Oradea and Satu Mare to Timisoara, Carpatair will double its number of domestic flights. Previously, the company exclusively operated flights to Timisoara from Bucharest, Constanta, Craiova, Suceava and Iasi. Exp ansion on the segment of domestic flights will mean that this segment will account for 15% of the company's overall traffic, up from 8% last year, as previously stated by its representatives. The company, whose hub is in Timisoara, estimates an around 15% increase in turnover to 92 million euros in 2008.