Yet another case of a private management project failing is shaping up in Romania, as the manager of Tarom, Christian Heinzmann, is being forced to leave the company, according to Romanian newspaper Adevarul.

Heinzmann, who had taken the helm of Tarom in November 2012, was, according to local media, forced to sign an annex to his four – year contract, which was shortened to a year, and he is due to leave the state – owned Romanian airline in November this year.

This was the second private management attempt for Tarom, part of a wider program to appoint private managers at the helm of several large state companies in Romania, which was a pledge made to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Heinzmann has taken over the baton from Heinrich Vystoupil, who gave up on the position, shortly after starting.

The Tarom administration board recently decided to name Nicolae Demetriade, a former director of Tarom, as executive director instead of Heinzmann. The situation at Tarom shortly follows a very similar one, which also involved an expat manager who decided – or, according to Romanian media, was forced - to resign: Cypriot Dimitris Sophocleous resigned from the helm of railways operator CFR following the dismissal of his management plan by the company's board. Sophocleous was at the helm of the company for three months.

In Tarom's case, the board has been pressing Heinzmann, a former director of airline Luxair, to resign for any personal reason, according to Lucian Iras, who said he's been ousted from the board at the direct order of Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu.

National carrier Tarom's losses in the first four months of 2013 reached over EUR 15 million, some EUR 6.8 million more than foreseen in the management plan. Meanwhile, losses for the first quarter were some EUR 11.2 million, 24 percent less than in Q1 2012. A secondary public offering is also planned for Tarom sometime this year.

editor@romania-insider.com