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Featured Map: TAROM's Last Airbus A318 Turns Into A Pumpkin
(UPDATE: After this post was written, TAROM decided to keep their last A318 in service for another four weeks, now with the last service planned on 22 November 2024. We'll see if that happens or there's another reprieve.)
TAROM (Transporturile Aeriene Romāne) four examples of the rare Airbus A318—almost 5% of the 81 which were built. This smallest member of the A320 family (and smallest Airbus until the A220) sold poorly because it had most of the cost of the larger family members with fewer seats to generate revenue.
Like all but one A318 customer, TAROM ordered theirs with CFM56-5 engines. One was parked in 2022, another in 2023 (and partially scrapped), and a third was stored this past July. TAROM's final A318 (YR-ASA, named Aurel Vlaicu after an early Romanian airplane builder and pilot), ironically the first to be delivered to TAROM, flew its last revenue flights on Tuesday, a round-trip from TAROM's base at Aeroportul Internaţional Henri Coandă Buchureşti (located in Otopeni) to Amsterdam. This appears to have been a substitution for another aircraft; regular routes for the aircraft were to Istanbul (last operated on 28 October) and to London Heathrow (last operated on 26 October).
This leaves Air France as the last A318 operator, with six of their 18 A318's still in service. They mostly fly domestic routes from Paris (Orly), plus assorted flights from Paris (Charles de Gaulle) and Nice. That's a story for another day, however.
Today's Featured Map shows the routes flown by YR-ASA during October 2024. The two regular routes are drawn with broader strokes, with thinner lines for the one-off routes.
References and additional information:
- The Romanian airline Tarom had originally planned to withdraw its last Airbus A318 from service on October 26, 2024 on the route from Istanbul to Bucharest. – Aviation Direct (28 October 2024)
- TAROM
- Air France
- Airbus
- Another Airline Set to Retire Airbus A318 – AirlineGeeks (12 October 2024)
- Planespotters.net
- Featured Map: Rare Birds: Airbus A318 (26 July 2017)
- Featured Map: A318: Across the Pond, or Parts (7 October 2010)
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Karl L. Swartz.
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