Blue Air will have to pay compensations both to the passengers it abandoned and for the costs of the flights operated by the state airline Tarom that brought home part of the abandoned passengers, Romania's transport minister Sorin Grindeanu stated.

Furthermore, he stressed that the Government earmarked RON 5 mln (EUR 1 mln) to support the repatriation flights - money that Blue Air will have to return as well - under the circumstances that the private airline failed to pay its dues to the state budget.

Two special Tarom flights took off, on the evening of September 8, to Heraklion airport and Larnaka, respectively, to repatriate almost 200 Romanians affected by the suspension of Blue Air flights. Previously, Tarom operated a special flight to Tel Aviv to bring about 150 Romanian citizens to the country, Economica.net reported.

Blue Air announced on September 6 that it is suspending all flights until Monday, September 12, as its bank accounts were frozen for overdue debts.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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