Lauda Air

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Lauda Air
IATA
OS		 ICAO
AUA		 Callsign
AUSTRIAN
Founded 1979
Commenced operations 1985
Ceased operations April 2013
Operating bases Vienna International Airport
Focus cities Innsbruck
Graz
Linz
Frequent-flyer program Miles & More
Alliance Star Alliance (affiliate member)
Destinations 59
Company slogan "The Austrian Way to holidays"
Parent company Austrian Airlines
Headquarters Vienna Airport, Schwechat
Key people Jaan Albrecht (CEO)
Karsten Benz (CCO)
Website laudaair.com

Lauda Air Luftfahrt GmbH was[1] a charter airline headquartered at Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Austria. It was a subsidiary of Austrian Airlines AG.

On 6 April 2013, Lauda Air ceased to exist and was replaced by the new brand Austrian myHoliday. Austrian myHoliday is no airline itself but used as a brand name for flights and leisure offers provided by Austrian Airlines themselves.[2]

History

A Lauda Air Boeing 737-700 lands at London Heathrow Airport, England; (2005)

Lauda Air was established in April 1979 by former Formula One world motor racing champion, Niki Lauda, and started operations in 1985, initially operating as a charter and air taxi service. One of the first jetliner types used by Lauda Air was the British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven series 500 with these aircraft being leased from Romanian airline TAROM. It opened its headquarters in the Lauda Air Building in Schwechat, Austria.[3] Scheduled operations were licenced and initiated in 1987; and in 1990 licences for international flights were obtained.[4] In 1989 Lauda started its first long-haul flights from Vienna to Sydney and Melbourne, via Bangkok. In the 1990s, it started to fly its Sydney and Melbourne flights via Kuala Lumpur. Daily flights to Dubai, Cuba, and Miami via Munich followed.

Lauda Air became a wholly owned subsidiary of Austrian Airlines in December 2000, and employed 35 as of March 2007.[4] In 2005 the flight operation merged with Austrian Airlines, and the label, "Lauda Air" operated charter flights within the Austrian Airlines Group.

At an AAG board meeting in November 2006, plans were approved to retire the Airbus wide-bodied fleet by mid-2007, to concentrate on a Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 fleet. As a result of subsequent fleet cuts, Austrian Airlines suspended some long-haul services and Lauda Air withdrew from the long-haul charter market over the next year.[5] This led to a refocus on the short/medium haul market, and led to the addition of a 737-800 to take over most of the charter routes.

Lauda Air was officially merged into Austrian Airlines on 1 July 2012.[6]

The brand was retired at the start of the summer flight schedule, on 31 March 2013, and was replaced by the new brand "Austrian myHoliday" which is no longer an airline but only used to sell Austrian Airlines' own leisure offers.[1][2]

Corporate affairs

The airline had a mascot, Niki the Rat, for its children's club, "Niki’s Kids Club."[7][8]

Lauda Air had an Italian subsidiary, Lauda Air S.p.A.[9] Its operations ended in 2007.[10]

Destinations

Main article: Austrian Airlines Group destinations

Austrian Airlines regularly served, among others, the following destinations under the Lauda Air brand until March 2013:[11]

Africa

 Egypt

Europe

 Austria
 Greece
 Iceland
 Ireland
 Italy
  • Catania - Catania-Fontanarossa Airport [seasonal]
  • Naples - Naples Airport [seasonal]
 Portugal
 Spain
 Turkey

Fleet

Lauda Air Boeing 737-800

All aircraft within the group were transferred to Tyrolean Airways on 1 July 2012, to be able to take advantage of Tyrolean's lower cost structure. One Boeing 737-800, which is equipped with 184 passenger seats in an all-economy class cabin layout,[12] still carries the Lauda Air livery to secure the Air operator's certificate.

Incidents and accidents

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.ch-aviation.ch/portal/airline/NG
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lauda Air; DIE Press; retrieved .
  3. ↑ 99 "World Airline Directory;" Flight International; 27 March–2 April 1991; Head Office: Lauda Air Building, PO Box 56, 1300 Wien-Schwechat, Austria; accessed .
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 105. 
  5. ↑ Airliner World; January 2007
  6. ↑ "Austrian bids farewell to the 737", Airliner World, June 2013: p6 
  7. ↑ Niki the Rat; 27 November 2001 article; Lauda Air; retrieved 6 March 2013.
  8. ↑ Ratte; Laud Air; Note: The name is the same in German as in English; website accessed .
  9. ↑ Lauda Air Annual Report 1995/1996; 24 May 1998 article; Lauda Air; retrieved 6 March 2013.
  10. ↑ 9 Fam 41.2 Exhibit III List of Signatory Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Carriers: INA 217(E) Signatory Transportation Lines; Archive of U.S. Department of State website; retrieved on 15 February 2013.
  11. ↑ Lauda Air destinations Summer 2011 (.PDF article in German); Lauda Air; auto download.
  12. ↑ Lauda Air Fleet List; planespotters.net; accessed January 2014.

External links

Airlines of Austria
Current
Austria
Defunct
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