Niki (also styled as NIKI or flyNiki, legally ''NIKI Luftfahrt
GmbH'') was
an
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
low-cost airline
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
headquartered in ''Office Park I'' at
Vienna International Airport
Vienna International Airport (german: Flughafen Wien-Schwechat; ) is the international airport of Vienna, the capital of Austria, located in Schwechat, southeast of central Vienna and west of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is the co ...
in
Schwechat
Schwechat () is a town southeast of Vienna known for the Vienna International Airport and Schwechater beer. The city is home to the refineries of the Austrian national oil company OMV.
Geography
Schwechat is named after the river Schwechat, wh ...
. It operated scheduled and charter services to European and North African leisure destinations from
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
,
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
and
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
and also started services from several German airports in March 2017. Niki had a variety of owners, including two stints of ownership under
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...
(1949–2019). In January 2018, the airline was acquired by
Lauda, an airline that also had ties to Niki Lauda.
History
Early years
In 2003,
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...
, ex-
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
driver and founder of
Lauda Air
Lauda Air Luftfahrt GmbH, branded as Lauda Air, was an Austrian airline headquartered at Vienna International Airport in Schwechat. It was owned by Niki Lauda (1949–2019) during much of its existence, later becoming a charter airline subsidi ...
, acquired the former
Aero Lloyd Austria operation. The airline started operations on 28 November 2003.
Although Niki was often described as "low-cost", it provided full services, such as free refreshments, newspapers, and baggage. It offered a sandwich or a cold snack, soft drinks, juice, 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 were offered a warm snack. Also, gourmet menus from
Demel could be ordered before the flight. There was also a
buy on board
Buy may refer to a trade, i.e., an exchange of goods and services via bartering or a monetary purchase.
The term may also refer to:
Places
* Buy (inhabited locality), any of several inhabited localities in Russia
* Burlington-Alamance Regional A ...
service.
Development as an Air Berlin subsidiary
On 9 January 2004, Niki announced cooperation with
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...
. In late 2011, Niki merged completely with
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...
, sharing operations, booking systems, and aircraft. On 20 March 2012, Niki became an "affiliate member" of
Oneworld
Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...
as a subsidiary company of
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...
. Starting in late 2012, Niki successively repainted their aircraft in the
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...
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. Also in spring 2015, Niki started to replace its fleet of
Embraer 190
The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer.
The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding ...
s with
Airbus A319-100
The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final asse ...
s from its parent,
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...
, with the used Embraers being transferred to
Helvetic Airways
Helvetic Airways (Previously Odette Airways) is a Swiss regional airline headquartered in Kloten with its fleet stationed at Zurich Airport. It operates flights to destinations in Europe and Northern Africa, mainly leisure markets, on its own beh ...
.
Sale to Etihad Airways
On 5 December 2016, parent company
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...
announced plans to sell its entire 49 percent stake in Niki to its own minority owner
Etihad Airways. Etihad Airways itself would merge Niki into a new joint-venture to be created with the German leisure carrier
TUIfly
TUI fly Deutschland, formerly ''TUIfly'', is a German leisure airline owned by the travel and tourism company TUI Group. It is headquartered at Hannover Airport with bases at several other German airports. TUI fly Deutschland is part of TUI Gr ...
.
[aero.de – "Air Berlin separates Niki and A321-fleet"](_blank)
(German) 5 December 2016 At the same time, Niki and Air Berlin would exchange several aircraft to harmonize each fleet.
It had also been announced that Niki would take over several routes to southern European, north African, and Turkish leisure destinations from Air Berlin as part of the new joint-venture.
[austrianaviation.net – "Finalized: Air Berlin sells Niki to Etihad"](_blank)
(German) 5 December 2016 However, the sale never happened.
Also in December 2016, Niki announced the termination of its only medium-haul route, from Vienna to
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
, Etihad's home base, by March 2017. 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. In January 2017, it was also announced that Niki will cease all operations to and from
Linz Airport
Linz Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Linz, ) is a minor international airport located in Hörsching, near Linz, the third-largest city in Austria. It is also known as the Blue Danube Airport.
History Early years
Air traffic used to take pl ...
at short notice due to the restructuring measures. The announcement was made after the 2017 schedule had already been made available for booking. 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.
[aero.de – "Niki also reduces leisure offers"](_blank)
(German) 10 January 2017
Shortly after, it was announced that Niki would take over several Air Berlin leisure routes to and from Germany. 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 over to Air Berlin.
It has also been announced that
TUI fly Deutschland
TUI fly Deutschland, formerly ''TUIfly'', is a German leisure airline owned by the travel and tourism company TUI Group. It is headquartered at Hannover Airport with bases at several other German airports. TUI fly Deutschland is part of TUI Gro ...
will additionally start to operate 15
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...
s currently wet-leased to
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...
for Niki.
[ ]
Failed takeover by Lufthansa and IAG
On 17 August 2017, Niki's parent Air Berlin announced it was filing for
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
but that all operations would continue until further notice. On 9 October 2017, Air Berlin told its staff that it would cease all remaining operations under its own brand name, but that Niki flights would continue after this date.
On 12 October 2017, it was announced that German
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
would purchase some of the assets from Air Berlin which included Niki and operations would continue and jobs were to be saved. On 24 October 2017, it was announced that Niki was to be absorbed into Lufthansa's low-cost subsidiary
Eurowings Europe
Eurowings Europe is a low-cost airline registered in Malta that is a subsidiary of Lufthansa and a sister company of the German Eurowings.
History
In January 2016, ch-aviation reported that Eurowings Europe expected to start operations in the m ...
. It was announced that Lufthansa plans to cease the Niki brand by the end of 2017 altogether.
[austrianaviation.net – "Niki to be history by year's end"](_blank)
(German) 25 October 2017
However, on 13 December 2017, Lufthansa pulled out of the agreement due to signs from the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
that the merger would not be approved. Niki declared
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
and ceased all operations on 14 December 2017.
[austrianaviation.net – "Grounding for Niki"](_blank)
(German) 13 December 2017 The day after, former owner Niki Lauda expressed interest in repurchasing the airline named after him.
On 29 December 2017, it was announced that
International Airlines Group
International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A., trading as International Airlines Group and usually shortened to IAG, is an Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company with its registered office in Madrid, Spain, and its global headq ...
(IAG), parent company of
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
,
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
,
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary ...
and
Vueling
Vueling S.A. is a Spanish low-cost airline based at El Prat de Llobregat in Greater Barcelona with hubs at Barcelona–El Prat Airport (main), Paris-Orly Airport in Paris, France and Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy (second ...
, would acquire for 36.5 million euros major parts of Niki including 15
Airbus A321 aircraft and traffic rights in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
and
Palma de Mallorca
Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...
.
IAG planned to establish a new Austrian subsidiary of Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling as a replacement for Niki.
[ch-aviation.com – IAG acquires Niki in €36.5mn deal](_blank)
29 December 2017 For this purpose, a new subsidiary of Vueling in Austria was to be founded and act independently. Of the approx. 1000 Niki employees, 740 were to be retained. On January 8, 2018, a Berlin administrative court ruled that only an Austrian court had the jurisdiction to handle the insolvency of Niki.
Subsequent takeovers
On January 23, 2018, the Austrian Press Agency announced that Niki Lauda's company
Lauda had beaten IAG in the bid for Niki, and would take over the company.
Less than two months later,
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...
agreed to purchase a majority stake in Laudamotion, initially acquiring almost 25 percent for less than 50 million euros ($61.7 million) with the intent to purchase another 50 percent at a later date. The deal was subsequently approved by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. Eleven planes from Niki were being operated by Laudamotion as of April 2018.
Destinations
Niki operated scheduled services to leisure destinations mainly in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, and
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
from its home base in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
as well as several more airports throughout
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
.
flyniki.com – Flightplan
retrieved 15 November 2017
Codeshare agreements
Niki maintained codeshares with the following airlines:
* Alitalia
Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana Società per azioni, S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of ...
* American Airlines
American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
* Etihad Airways
* Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
Fleet
Prior to the shutdown in December 2017, the fleet of Niki consisted of the following aircraft:[planespotters.net – Niki Fleet Details and History](_blank)
retrieved 15 November 2017
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niki (Airline)
Defunct airlines of Austria
Airlines established in 2003
Airlines disestablished in 2017
Austrian companies established in 2003
2017 disestablishments in Austria
Air Berlin
Etihad Airways Partners
Former Oneworld affiliate members
Austrian brands