Airlines LaudaMotion flies for Eurowings

According to different sources, LaudaMotion will operate eight Airbus A320 aircraft for Eurowings, starting operations in the next days.

The jets will be wet-leased until the end of May. A further cooperation has not been announced. All aircraft will be integrated into Eurowings European network. Lufthansa has developed Eurowings into an operational platform for several other carriers. Beside LaudaMotion airlines like SunExpress Deutschland (7x Airbus A330-200), Brussels Airlines (1x Airbus A340-300), PrivatAir (1x Boeing 767-300ER) and LGW (19x Bombardier Dash 8 Q400) operate flights for Eurowings.

Eurowings will be the second German carrier using LaudaMotion’s fleet: The Thomas Cook carrier Condor is cooperating with the Austrian airline and sells short- and medium-haul flights operated by LaudaMotion.

LaudaMotion is the successor of the former Austrian Air Berlin subsidiary Niki. The Formula 1 champion Niki Lauda has acquired Niki in January 2018 after Lufthansa and Easyjet failed to acquire the company. Currently, the carrier operates a fleet of fourteen Airbus A320 Family aircraft (A319, A320 and A321). The airline will commence operations from the former Air Berlin hub Düsseldorf on March 25. First flights from Vienna are planned to commence in June.

The new leasing agreement with Eurowings was announced some days after Niki Lauda has confirmed, that the Irish low cost carrier Ryanair has acquired an initial 24,9% stake in the new founded Austrian carrier. Ryanair has an interest in acquiring up to 75% of LaudaMotion. With the acquisition of LaudaMotion, Ryanair gains access to several former Air Berlin and Niki slots at airports like Vienna and Berlin-Tegel.