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Lauda redirects here. For the former F1 racing driver, and founder of Lauda Air, see Niki Lauda. For lauda the Italian sacred song, see the plural laude.

Lauda Air
IATA NG	ICAO LDA	Callsign Lauda Air
Founded		1979
Hubs		Vienna International Airport
Fleet size		14
Destinations		130 in 66 countries (AUA)
Parent company		Austrian Airlines Group
Headquarters		Vienna, Austria
Key people		Niki Lauda (founder)
Website: http://www.laudaair.com

Lauda Air is an airline based in Vienna, Austria. It operates scheduled leisure flights and charters to holiday destinations in Europe, North Africa, the Caribbean and South-East Asia. Its main base is Vienna International Airport ^[1]. Together with Austrian Airlines and Austrian Arrows, Lauda Air belongs to the Austrian Airlines Group.

Contents 1 History 2 Destinations 3 Incidents and accidents 4 Fleet 5 External links 6 References

Lauda Air was established in April 1979 by former Formula One world motor racing champion Niki Lauda and started operations in 1985, initially operating charter and air taxi services. Scheduled operations were licenced in 1987 and in 1990 licences for international flights were obtained.^[1]. In 1989 Lauda started their first long-haul flights from Vienna to Sydney and Melbourne, via Bangkok. In the 1990s they started to fly their Sydney and Melbourne flights via Kuala Lumpur. Daily flights to Miami via Munich, to Dubai and to Cuba followed.^{[citation needed]}

It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Austrian Airlines in December 2000 and has 35 employees (at March 2007).^[1] In 2005 the flight operation merged with Austrian Airlines, and the label Lauda Air now operates charter flights within the Austrian Airlines Group.

Niki Lauda has since started a new airline, Niki. Austrian Airlines Group will decide whether to integrate the whole Lauda air charter fleet into the common Austrian-design in early 2007 because of the aim to appear as one airline group (simplicity) and in order to avoid advertisement for Niki Lauda's new airline, Niki.^{[citation needed]}

At an Austrian Airlines 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 was suspending some long-haul services and Lauda Air is to withdraw from the long-haul charter market over the next year ^[2].

• On May 26, 1991, Flight 004, operated by a Boeing 767-3Z9ER plane, was lost over Thailand after an uncommanded reverser deployment, with 223 dead.

The Lauda Air fleet includes the following aircraft (at March 2007) ^[1] :

• 2 Airbus A320-200
• 1 Boeing 737-600
• 2 Boeing 737-700
• 6 Boeing 737-800 (plus 1 on order)
• 2 Boeing 767-300ER

Lauda has named its aircraft after celebrities including: Freddie Mercury, George Harrison, Gregory Peck, Frank Zappa, Miles Davis and Kurt Cobain for its 737-800 fleet, and Ray Charles and Frida Kahlo in its A320 fleet.

• Official website
• Fleet

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