Niki (airline)

Niki
IATA ICAO Callsign
HG NLY FLYNIKI
Founded 2003
Frequent-flyer program topbonus (from Air Berlin)
Alliance Oneworld (affiliate)
Fleet size 31
Destinations 49[1]
Company slogan The Passenger Comes First
Parent company
  • NIKI Privatstiftung (50.2%)
  • Air Berlin (48%)
Headquarters Schwechat, Austria
Key people Oliver Lackmann, CEO
Employees ~800
Website flyniki.com

Niki (also styled as NIKI or flyNiki, legally NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH) is an Austrian low-cost airline headquartered in Office Park I at Vienna International Airport in Schwechat.[2][3] It operates scheduled and charter services to European and North African leisure destinations from Vienna, Salzburg, Graz and Innsbruck and also started services from several German airports in March 2017.

History

Early years

In 2003 Niki Lauda, ex-Grand Prix driver and founder of Lauda Air, acquired the former Aero Lloyd Austria operation. The airline started operations on 28 November 2003.

Although Niki is often described as "low-cost", it provides full service, such as free refreshments, newspapers and baggage. It offers a sandwich or a cold snack, soft drinks, tea and coffee on all short-haul flights as well as on charter routes to Greece, Tunisia and Turkey. On mid-haul charter flights to the Canary Islands and Egypt all passengers are offered a warm snack. Also, gourmet menus from Demel can be ordered before the flight. There is also a buy on board service.[4]

Development as an Air Berlin subsidiary

Niki Airbus A321-200 in the previous livery used until 2012

On 9 January 2004, Niki announced cooperation with Air Berlin. In late 2011, Niki merged completely with Air Berlin, sharing operations, booking systems and aircraft. On 20 March 2012, Niki became an "affiliate member" of Oneworld as a subsidiary company of Air Berlin.[5] Since late 2012, Niki successively repaints their aircraft in the Air Berlin paint scheme, using the Niki logo only at the nose. The new paint scheme was applied during regular C checks.

In October 2014, Niki announced the cancellation of their flights from Vienna to Copenhagen, Moscow and Frankfurt due to decreasing demand. In exchange, new leisure routes will be started by summer 2015.[6] Also in spring 2015, Niki started to replace its fleet of Embraer 190s with Airbus A319-100s from its parent, Air Berlin, with the used Embraers being transferred to Helvetic Airways.[7]

Sale to Etihad Airways

On 5 December 2016, parent company Air Berlin announced plans to sell its entire 49 percent stake in Niki to its own minority owner Etihad Airways. Etihad Airways itself will merge Niki into a new joint-venture to be created with the German leisure carrier TUIfly.[8][9] At the same time, Niki and Air Berlin will exchange several aircraft to harmonize each fleet.[8] It has also been announced that Niki will take over several routes to southern European, north African and Turkish leisure destinations from Air Berlin as part of the new joint-venture.[9] The deal still requires official approval.[10]

Also in December 2016, Niki announced the termination of its only medium-haul route, from Vienna to Abu Dhabi, Etihad's home base, by March 2017.[11] Niki later also announced it plans to terminate all of its 12 routes from Vienna to non-leisure destinations such as Milan or Zürich by 30 January 2017.[12][13] In January 2017, it was also announced that Niki will cease all operations to and from Linz Airport at short notice due to the restructuring measures. The announcement was made after the 2017 schedule had already been made available for booking.[14] For the 2017 season, Niki reduced the number of flights from Austria to 56 flights a week to 20 destinations, compared to 34 destinations in 2016.[1]

Shortly after, it was announced that Niki will take over several Air Berlin leisure routes to and from Germany.[15] It also has been announced that Niki's fleet will be switched over to Airbus A321s only while the smaller A319s and A320s are handed to Air Berlin.[8] It has also been announced that TUI fly Deutschland will additionally start to operate 15 Boeing 737s currently wet-leased to Air Berlin for Niki.[16]

Destinations

Niki operates scheduled and charter services to destinations to several countries in Europe - charter services are especially operated to Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco - from Vienna, Salzburg, Graz and Innsbruck. The flights are also marketed by its former parent and now minority shareholder Air Berlin.

Codeshare agreements

Niki codeshares with the following airlines:[17]

Fleet

Niki Airbus A320-200
in current livery

As of April 2017, the fleet of Niki consists of the following aircraft:[18]

Niki fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A321-200 16 7[8] – 210 210 additional aircraft to be received from Air Berlin[8]
212 212
Boeing 737-700 5 — – 144 144 operated by TUI fly Deutschland[16]
Boeing 737-800 9 — – 186 186 operated by TUI fly Deutschland[16]
Total 30 7

References

  1. 1 2 aero.de - "Niki also reduces leisure offers" (German) 10 January 2017
  2. ↑ "Contact form." Niki. Retrieved on 25 January 2011. "NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH Office Park I, Top B03 A-1300 Wien"
  3. ↑ "Information about the city plan." City of Schwechat. Retrieved on 5 September 2009.
  4. ↑ "book cheap flights online - flyniki". flyniki.com. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "günstige Flüge suchen, billigste Flüge buchen - flyniki". flyniki.com. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Niki: Air Berlin bestätigt Streckenstreichungen". austrianaviation.net. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "A319 bekommen Niki-Beklebung". austrianaviation.net. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 aero.de - "Air Berlin separates Niki and A321-fleet" (German) 5 December 2016
  9. 1 2 austrianaviation.net - "Finalized: Air Berlin sells Niki to Etihad" (German) 5 December 2016
  10. ↑ "Air Berlin to sell Niki stake to Etihad". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  11. ↑ routesonline.com - NIKI ends Abu Dhabi service in March 2017 26 December 2016
  12. ↑ "Niki stellt City-Flüge mit Ende Jänner ein - Austrian Aviation Net". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  13. ↑ "Abbau in Österreich: Niki stellt Städteflüge Ende Januar ein - aeroTELEGRAPH". 7 January 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  14. ↑ Nachrichten, Oberösterreichische. "Fly Niki hebt auch als Ferienflieger weniger oft ab". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  15. ↑ "Air Berlin and Niki announce new restructured network". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 http://www.austrianaviation.net/detail/niki-flottet-15-boeing-737-ein/
  17. ↑ "Profile on NIKI". CAPA. Centre for Aviation. Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  18. ↑ planespotters.net - Niki Fleet Details and History retrieved 28 April 2017

Media related to Niki at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 48°07′26″N 16°33′45″E / 48.1238°N 16.5624°E / 48.1238; 16.5624

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