TAROM to name second new Boeing 737 MAX after Romanian Olympic champion Ivan Patzaichin

20 August 2026 Romanian flag carrier TAROM will name the second Boeing 737 MAX joining its renewed fleet after Olympic canoeing champion Ivan Patzaichin. The agreement allowing the airline to use his name was signed on August 19 in the presence of his wife and daughter. The first new Boeing 737 MAX entering TAROM’s fleet this year was named after legendary football coach Mircea Lucescu. Born into a fishing family in Mila 23, a village in the Danube Delta, Patzaichin went on to become one of Romania’s leading sporting figures. “When he was young, my father was fascinated by the few airplanes that crossed the sky. He very much wanted to become a pilot,” his daughter, Ivona Patzaichin, said. “Later, whenever he traveled to sporting competitions, he flew only with TAROM. He was one of those en