Farewell To A Classic: TAROM Retires Its Boeing 737-300s

TAROM retired its two remaining Boeing 737-300 aircraft from service today. The last scheduled flight with a 737-300 aircraft for the airline took place yesterday, 7th November 2021.

TAROM 737-300
TAROM’s fleet no longer counts any Boeing 737-300 aircraft. Photo: Getty Images

TAROM retires the 737-300

Romania’s flag carrier and national airline, TAROM, retired its Boeing 737-300 aircraft from service today, Boarding Pass reports.

The last ever scheduled Boeing 737-300 flight for TAROM took place yesterday when aircraft YR-BGE flew between Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) and Bucharest (OTP) under flight number RO608.

The aircraft landed at 23:21, our RadarBox.com data shows, marking the end of an era for TAROM. This aircraft was 27 years old, and it spent all of them with TAROM, serving the Romanian national airline tirelessly.

The second-last TAROM Boeing 737-300 to stop flying was YR-BGD which had its last flight on Sunday 31st October when it flew as RO3762 from Timisoara (TSR) to Bucharest (OTP).

YR-BGD was even older than YR-BGE, having been delivered to TAROM as far back as November 1994. It also stayed with the airline all these years.

Tarom A318
TAROM is replacing its 27-year old Boeing 737 aircraft with deliveries of the brand new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Photo: Boeing

The 737-300s were of great use

Both of the 27-year old 737-300 aircraft that TAROM recently retired were owned by the airline, making them a great asset despite higher maintenance costs associated with such old aircraft.

TAROM owns a total of four Boeing 737-300 aircraft, and these have served it well. All four were delivered between October 1993 and November 1994. Their capacity was eight seats in Business Class and 126 in Economy.

Along with the two retired over the last eight days, TAROM also withdrew the other two 737s from use, but in 2020 already. These two are registered as YR-BGA and YR-BGB.

YR-BGA had its last flight on 16th March 2020, RadarBox.com data shows, when it flew from Hamburg (HAM) to Bucharest (OTP). This aircraft, now over 28 years old, is stored in Bucharest as it is missing several parts that would make it fit to fly.

YR-BGB also had its last flight just as COVID-19 was kicking off in Europe. It flew from Frankfurt (FRA) to Bucharest (OTP) on 24th February 2020. It is also over 28 years old and is no longer fit to fly.

Tarom A310
TAROM has a diverse fleet both at present and historically: the airline also operated the Airbus A310. Photo: Aero Icarus via Flickr

TAROM to sell the 737s

TAROM intends to sell its four Boeing 737-300s as part of its fleet development plans.

Currently, the Romanian airline has the following fleet:

  • seven ATR 42-500s
  • two ATR 72-500s
  • four ATR 72-600s
  • four Airbus A318s
  • four Boeing 737-300s
  • four Boeing 737-700NGs
  • four Boeing 737-800NGs

The airline is also awaiting delivery of five Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and of three ATR 72-600s. The three ATRs are part of an order of seven, of which four have already been delivered and are flying. The original order was for nine aircraft, but TAROM reduced it to seven.

What do you think of TAROM retiring the Boeing 737-300? Let us know what you think of this story in the comments below.



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