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| Founded | 28 November 2003 (2003-11-28) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 14 December 2017 (2017-12-14) (merged intoAmira Air to becomeLaudaMotion) | ||||||
| Operating bases | Vienna Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | topbonus | ||||||
| Alliance | Oneworld(affiliate; 2012–2017) | ||||||
| Parent company | Air Berlin | ||||||
| Headquarters | Schwechat,Austria | ||||||
| Key people | Oliver Lackmann (CEO) | ||||||
| Founder | Niki Lauda | ||||||
Niki (also styled asNIKI orflyNiki, legallyNIKI LuftfahrtGmbH) was[1] anAustrianlow-cost airline headquartered inOffice Park I atVienna Airport inSchwechat.[2][3] It operated scheduled and charter services to European and North African leisure destinations fromVienna,Salzburg,Graz andInnsbruck and also started services from several German airports in March 2017. Niki had a variety of owners, including two stints of ownership under former car racerNiki Lauda. In January 2018, the airline was acquired byLauda, an airline that also had ties to Niki Lauda.[4]
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In 2003,Niki Lauda, ex-Grand Prix driver and founder ofLauda Air, acquired the formerAero 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 fromDemel could be ordered before the flight. There was also abuy on board service.[5]
On 9 January 2004, Niki announced cooperation withAir Berlin. In late 2011, Niki[6] merged completely withAir Berlin, sharing operations, booking systems, and aircraft. On 20 March 2012, Niki became an "affiliate member" ofOneworld as a subsidiary company ofAir Berlin.[7] Starting in late 2012, Niki successively repainted their aircraft in theAir Berlin paint scheme, using the Niki logo only at the nose. The new paint scheme was applied during regularC 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.[8] Also in spring 2015, Niki started to replace its fleet ofEmbraer 190s withAirbus A319-100s from its parent,Air Berlin, with the used Embraers being transferred toHelvetic Airways.[9]
On 5 December 2016, parent companyAir Berlin announced plans to sell its entire 49 percent stake in Niki to its own minority ownerEtihad Airways. Etihad Airways itself would merge Niki into a new joint-venture to be created with the German leisure carrierTUIfly.[10][11] At the same time, Niki and Air Berlin would exchange several aircraft to harmonize each fleet.[10] 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.[11] However, the sale never happened.
Also in December 2016, Niki announced the termination of its only medium-haul route, from Vienna toAbu Dhabi, Etihad's home base, by March 2017.[12] 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.[13][14] In January 2017, it was also announced that Niki will cease all operations to and fromLinz Airport at short notice due to the restructuring measures. The announcement was made after the 2017 schedule had already been made available for booking.[15] 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.[16]
Shortly after, it was announced that Niki would take over several Air Berlin leisure routes to and from Germany.[17] It also has been announced that Niki's fleet will be switched over toAirbus A321s only while the smaller A319s and A320s are handed over to Air Berlin.[10] It has also been announced thatTUI fly Deutschland will additionally start to operate 15Boeing 737s currently wet-leased toAir Berlin for Niki.[18]
On 17 August 2017, Niki's parent Air Berlin announced it was filing forbankruptcy 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 GermanLufthansa would purchase some of the assets from Air Berlin which included Niki and operations would continue and jobs were to be saved.[19] On 24 October 2017, it was announced that Niki was to be absorbed into Lufthansa's low-cost subsidiaryEurowings Europe.[20] It was announced that Lufthansa plans to cease the Niki brand by the end of 2017 altogether.[21]
However, on 13 December 2017, Lufthansa pulled out of the agreement due to signs from theEuropean Commission that the merger would not be approved.[22] Niki declaredbankruptcy and ceased all operations on 14 December 2017.[1] The day after, former owner Niki Lauda expressed interest in repurchasing the airline named after him.[23]
On 29 December 2017, it was announced thatInternational Airlines Group (IAG), parent company ofBritish Airways,Iberia,Aer Lingus andVueling, would acquire for 36.5 million euros major parts of Niki including 15Airbus A321 aircraft and traffic rights inDüsseldorf,Munich,Vienna,Zurich andPalma de Mallorca.[24] IAG planned to establish a new Austrian subsidiary of Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling as a replacement for Niki.[24] 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 8 January 2018, a Berlin administrative court ruled that only an Austrian court had the jurisdiction to handle the insolvency of Niki.[25]
On 23 January 2018, the Austrian Press Agency announced that Niki Lauda's companyLauda had beaten IAG in the bid for Niki, and would take over the company.[4] Less than two months later,Ryanair agreed to purchase a majority stake in Laudamotion,[26] 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 theEuropean Union.[27] Eleven planes from Niki were being operated by Laudamotion as of April 2018.
Niki operated scheduled services to leisure destinations mainly inSpain,Portugal, andNorth Africa from its home base inVienna as well as several more airports throughoutAustria,Germany, andSwitzerland.[28]
Niki maintainedcodeshares with the following airlines:[29]
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Prior to the shutdown in December 2017, the fleet of Niki consisted of the following aircraft:[citation needed]
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Y | Total | ||||
| Airbus A320-200 | 2 | 3[citation needed] | – | 180 | 180 | |
| Airbus A321-200 | 15 | — | – | 210 | 210 | |
| 212 | 212 | |||||
| Boeing 737-700 | 5 | — | – | 144 | 144 | operated byTUI fly Deutschland[18] |
| Boeing 737-800 | 8 | — | – | 186 | 186 | operated byTUI fly Deutschland[18] |
| Total | 30 | 3 | ||||
Media related toNiki at Wikimedia Commons
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