National airline TAROM registered just 1.1 million passengers over the first 11 months of 2006, only managing figures higher than the national airlines of Slovenia and Serbia, according to the Association of European Airlines (AEA). AEA comprises 31 European airlines, which transport approximately 320 million passengers every year. TAROM managed to raise the number of its passengers by 7.1% over the January - November 2006 period against the corresponding period of the previous year, topping the European average of 4.5%. However, the occupancy rate amounted to only 62.1%, below the European airlines' average of 76.7% and also below the company's estimates for 2006, which predicted 65%. TAROM representatives did not comment on the number of passengers or the occupancy rate registered during the above-mentioned period by the time the story was ready for print. TAROM is still a state-owned company and the Minister of Transports, Radu Berceanu, said the privatisation process would not be launched in the immediate future. Malev, the Hungarian national airline, which is also still under state control, finds itself in a similar situation. Malev is attempting for the fourth time to privatise its business and has received offers from several airlines. The company was assessed at 115.6 million euros, according to the communication manager, Krisztina Nemeth.
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