After losing part of their passengers to low-cost airlines, coach operators are now facing a new, extremely aggressive competitor: regular airlines, such as TAROM, the Romanian flag carrier airline. "Discounted tickets", which airlines use in order to make sure they have enough passengers to preserve their profit margin, have messed up the budgets of road transport operators, which had already recorded passenger declines over the last few years, as a result of intensified competition from low-cost airlines, but now they are facing a 20% lower demand compared with last year. "The low prices operated by regular airlines starting this year will probably draw some of our passengers away, but with prices in the range of 50 euros, airlines will not be able to cope for a very long time financially. This is less than the companies' cost, and it will bring them in the red," said Ilie Carabulea, owner of Atlassib, the largest road passenger carrier, with 66 million euros in turnover last year. TAROM launched several 50-euro tickets (airport charges excluded) on international destinations this year, in order to boost passenger traffic. However, the state-held company could not prevent the traffic decline, by 16% in the first quarter.
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