Austrian Heinrich Vystoupil, the first private and foreign manager of the national air carrier, wants to achieve at Tarom what state managers failed to succeed, he said in an interview with Adevarul. “I accepted this job because I am still confident in Tarom’s potential; it is a challenge for me; I lived 4 years in Romania and I am still very connected. I am honoured for being in this position,” said Vystoupil, who acted during 2006-2010 as Austrian Airlines Country Manager for Romania and Moldova. He set the priority that Tarom becomes a profitable company, but admits it will be a difficult task, given Tarom cumulated losses of EUR 181 M during the last 4 years. “Tarom has been continuously losing money for the last 4 years, and we must stop this situation and turn it into a sustainable company, because solving all the other problems depends on this,” the private manager explained.Vystoupil says that only when he has a complete image of the company, after talking to the entire personnel and knowing all data, he will decide whether Tarom is to be subjected to a restructuring process. “We will certainly reach this point, although I cannot say this right now,” the Austrian said; this will also be the moment when he will decide if he needs foreign specialists, he added.Having worked with Austrian Airlines – a direct competitor for Tarom on certain routes – does not seem an issue to him. “I worked there for 10 years, but now I work with Tarom and I will be dedicated to this company. The competition between Tarom and Austrian Airlines has nothing different from that between Tarom and another company,” the new Tarom manager explained. In 2010-2011, the Austrian was, in turn, partner with the air transport consultancy firm Viacon Consulting, senior commercial consultant with Lufthansa Consulting and chief commercial officer for Qatar Airlines in Vienna. Now he is glad he returned to Romania, because he likes this country very much, its people and environment. For the future, he considers moving here with his entire family, but not now, “because there is much to do and I will not stay at home for too long.”
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