Airline Name
Lauda Air(The logo used after Austrian’s takeover in December 2000)
IATA: NG / ICAO: LDA / Callsign: LAUDA AIR
Country of Origin
Austria
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
A320 (A320-200) (2 operated),At INN,
B733 (737-300) (2 operated),
At INN,
Look at all the Tyrolean aircraft at Vienna,
Star Alliance livery,
B734 (737-400) (2 operated),
B736 (737-600) (2 operated),
At ZRH (A regular there in the early 2000’s) (Transferred to Austrian in mid-December 2009),
I’m not sure how this was in the Galapagos Islands
,
OE-LNM (Innsbruck & Tyrol special livery),
B737 (737-700) (2 operated) (Transferred to Austrian in 2010),
At INN in 2006 with the 737-800 behind the TCX 752 and Transavia 737-400 in old colours (No winglets),
B738 (737-800) (7 operated) (Transferred to Austrian in 2012),
Both below and top are at INN in 2012,
Without winglets,
2007 INN,
Both Niki Lauda’s old airline and new airline together in 2011,
B763 (767-300) (9 operated),
At INN,
Star Alliance livery,
At INN with a First Choice 757-200,
At INN,
B772 (777-200ER) (3 operated),
At NGO,
CRJ1 (CRJ-100LR) (10 operated) (No visual difference to the CRJ 200),
Why should this airline be added?
Founded in 1979 by F1 legend Niki Lauda, this airline quickly rose to being the main competitor with Austrian Airlines, similar to how Virgin is to BA and also similar in its style. In 1988, the airline 1988 using 2 767-300ER’s to fly from Vienna to Bangkok, then onwards to Melbourne and Sydney before returning. In 1992 it established an Italian subsidiary called Lauda Air Italia, it being based in Milan and operating flights to the Caribbean, South America and Asia including BKK and GRU.In 2000, Niki Lauda was kicked off the board and the airline was merged with Austrian, becoming Austrian’s charter and holiday brand but continuing to operate some of its own flights as part of the airline. Steadily throughout the 2000s, both airlines operations began to merge, with Austrian disposing of its Airbus long haul fleet (The A340-300s of which had begun to operate the SYD/MEL run via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore respectively) replacing them with the 767s and 777s of Lauda’s fleet. By mid-2012, Lauda was fully merged with Austrian bringing to an end the Lauda Air brand.
But in the background, Niki Lauda was not to be phased by the loss of his airline and founded Niki, his second airline, in 2001. Niki began working cooperatively with Air Berlin in 2004 and in 2011 merged with the airline, with the majority of the fleet being repainted or sold on from then. However, in 2017, Air Berlin collapsed in dramatic fashion, having been haemorrhaging money for years but being kept afloat by majority stakeholder Etihad, who decided in 2017 that their plan to use Air Berlin and other European airlines as feeders to Abu Dhabi wasn’t working, pulled the rug out from all of them and Niki went down with the ship.
The Niki assets were largely bought out of the ruins by Niki Lauda in January 2018, who in 2016 decided to purchase a company called Amira Air which he renamed LaudaMotion and to which he merged the new Niki assets into but retired the Niki brand. In Feb 2018, Thomas Cook Condor took over sales and marketing of 3 LaudaMotion planes which would fly flights from German cities to Spanish holiday destinations booked through Condor, but would retain the LaudaMotion livery and would be operated by the airline which would receive some of the profits. In late March 2018 however, Ryanair bought a 75% share of the airline and began expanding the airlines operations, whilst changing its name to just Lauda in 2019. In May 2020, Ryanair sought to shut down the Vienna base resulting in conflict with the Lauda staff, unions and the Austrian Government which was followed in June by the airline being merged into Ryanair and subsequently all operations were merged into Lauda Malta.
It would be a great airline to add, potentially being another local airline at INN instead of Ryanair (Could be done alongside Niki and Tyrolean
), also providing another option for players airports in Europe and worldwide. It could also feature merely as a pass airline at INN, maybe the 737-600 in the Tyrol/Innsbruck colours, the 737-800 considering that type was the last to wear the airlines livery and as a 767-300 providing a D Class pass contract which did see semi-regular ops at the airport, though ofc being me I’d love it as its own regular airline.