thumb|right|[[Boeing 737-200]]

thumb|right|[[Boeing 767-300ER]]

Lauda Air Luftfahrt GmbH, branded as Lauda Air, was an Austrian charter airline headquartered at Vienna Airport in Schwechat. It was owned by Niki Lauda (1949–2019) during much of its existence, later becoming a charter airline subsidiary for leisure operations of Austrian Airlines. In 2000, Lauda Air ceased operations.

History

Development as an independent airline

Lauda Air was established in April 1979 by former Formula One world motor racing champion Niki Lauda with two Fokker F27s. Flight operations were launched in the following month of May. Charter operations continued until 1983, with the adoption of increasingly larger aircraft. A period of hiatus followed until 1985, when large-scale charter flights resumed.

In May 1988, Lauda started its first long-haul flights from Vienna to Sydney and Melbourne via Bangkok. In the 1990s, it started to fly its Sydney and Melbourne flights via Kuala Lumpur and Bali. Daily flights to Dubai, Cuba, and Miami via Munich followed starting from August 1990.

Accelerated market penetration within Europe was made by the signin of a strategic alliance with Lufthansa in 1992, consolidated in the following year. At the same time, the first Bombardier CRJ-100s were taken into service, required for intra-European connections and to Scandinavia. This led to a refocus on the short/medium-haul market and led to the addition of a 737-800 to take over most of the charter routes. Lauda Air also had an Italian subsidiary, Lauda Air S.p.A., which ended its operations in 2007.

Destinations

Austrian Airlines regularly served various destinations under the Lauda Air brand until 2000.

Former destinations

These destinations were served by Lauda Air before its cessation of operations and its 2000 merge into Austrian Airlines:

{|class="sortable wikitable"

|-

!Country

!City

!Airport

!Notes

|-

|rowspan="2"|||Melbourne||Melbourne Airport||

|-

|Sydney||Sydney Airport||

|-

|rowspan="5"|||Graz||Graz Airport||

|-

|Innsbruck||Innsbruck Airport||

|-

|Linz||Linz Airport||

|-

|Salzburg||Salzburg Airport||align=center|

|-

|Vienna||Vienna Airport||

|-

|||Maceió||Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport||

|-

|rowspan="3"|||Hurghada||Hurghada International Airport||align=center|

|-

|Luxor||Luxor International Airport||align=center|

|-

|Sharm El Sheikh||Sharm El Sheikh International Airport||align=center|

|-

|rowspan="2"|||Nice||Nice Côte d'Azur Airport||

|-

|Paris||Orly Airport||

|-

|rowspan="3"|||Düsseldorf||Düsseldorf Airport||

|-

|Frankfurt||Frankfurt Airport||

|-

|Munich||Munich Airport||

|-

|rowspan="17"|||Chania||Chania International Airport||

|-

|Corfu||Corfu International Airport||

|-

|Heraklion||Heraklion International Airport||

|-

|Karpathos||Karpathos Island National Airport||

|-

|Kavala||Kavala International Airport||

|-

|Kefalonia||Kefalonia International Airport||

|-

|Kos||Kos International Airport||

|-

|Mykonos||Mykonos Airport||

|-

|Mytilene||Mytilene International Airport||

|-

|Preveza||Aktion National Airport||

|-

|Rhodes||Rhodes International Airport||

|-

|Samos||Samos International Airport||

|-

|Santorini||Santorini (Thira) International Airport||

|-

|Skiathos||Skiathos International Airport||

|-

|Thessaloniki||Thessaloniki Airport||

|-

|Volos||Nea Anchialos National Airport||

|-

|Zakynthos||Zakynthos International Airport||

|-

|rowspan="2"|||rowspan="2"|Hong Kong||Hong Kong International Airport||

|-

|Kai Tak Airport||

|-

|||Reykjavík||Keflavik International Airport||

|-

|||Denpasar||I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport||

|-

|||Dublin||Dublin Airport||

|-

|rowspan="7"|||Cagliari||Cagliari Elmas Airport||align=center|

|-

|Catania||Catania-Fontanarossa Airport||

|-

|Milan||Milan Malpensa Airport||

|-

|Naples||Naples International Airport||

|-

|Olbia||Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport||align=center|

|-

|Rome||Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport||

|-

|Tortolì||Tortolì Airport||align=center|

|-

|||Kuala Lumpur||Kuala Lumpur International Airport||

|-

|||Malé||Ibrahim Nasir International Airport||

|-

|||Cancún||Cancún International Airport||

|-

|rowspan="3"|||Faro||Faro Airport||

|-

|Funchal||Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport||

|-

|Lisbon||Lisbon Airport||

|-

|||Singapore||Changi International Airport||

|-

| rowspan="2" |

|Bratislava

|M. R. Štefánik Airport

|

|-

|Poprad

|Poprad–Tatry Airport

|

|-

|rowspan="7"|||Barcelona||Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport||

|-

|Fuerteventura||Fuerteventura Airport||align=center|

|-

|Las Palmas||Gran Canaria Airport||align=center|

|-

|Madrid||Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport||

|-

|Málaga||Málaga Airport||

|-

|Lanzarote||Lanzarote Airport||

|-

|Tenerife||Tenerife South Airport||align=center|

|-

|||Colombo||Bandaranaike International Airport||

|-

|rowspan="2"|||Bangkok||Don Mueang International Airport||

|-

|Phuket||Phuket International Airport||

|-

|rowspan="3"|||Antalya||Antalya Airport||align=center|

|-

|Bodrum||Milas–Bodrum Airport||

|-

|Dalaman||Dalaman Airport||

|-

|||Dubai||Dubai International Airport||

|-

|rowspan="3"|||rowspan="2"|London||Gatwick Airport||

|-

|Heathrow Airport||

|-

|Manchester||Manchester Airport||

|-

|rowspan="2"|||Los Angeles||Los Angeles International Airport||

|-

|Miami||Miami International Airport||

|-

|||Ho Chi Minh City||Tan Son Nhat International Airport||

|-

|||Montego Bay||Donald Sangster International Airport||

|-

|}

Fleet

thumb|Lauda [[Boeing 737-700]]

thumb|[[Bombardier CRJ-100]]

thumb|Lauda [[Boeing 777-200ER]]

thumb|[[Boeing 737-800]]

Historic fleet

Lauda Air's historic fleet included the following aircraft during its existence:

{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse:collapse; text-align:center; margin:auto;"

|+ Lauda Air's historic fleet

|-

! Aircraft

! Total

! Introduced

! Retired

! Notes

|-

|Airbus A320-200

|2

|2005

|2008

|Leased from Austrian Airlines.

|-

|BAC 1-11-500

|2

|1985

|1986

|Leased from TAROM.

|-

|Boeing 737-200

|1

|1985

|1988

|Leased from Transavia.

|-

|Boeing 737-300

|2

|1988

|2005

|

|-

|Boeing 737-400

|3

|1993

|2005

|

|-

|Boeing 737-600

|6

|2000

|2009

|rowspan="3"|Transferred to Austrian Airlines.

|-

|Boeing 737-700

|2

|2001

|2010

|-

|Boeing 737-800

|7

|1998

|2012

|-

|rowspan="2"|Boeing 767-300ER

|1

|rowspan="2"|1989

|1991

|OE-LAV crashed as Flight 004.

|-

|10

|2007

|Launch customer with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engine.<br>Six transferred to Austrian Airlines.

|-

|Boeing 777-200ER

|3

|1997

|2005

|Transferred to Austrian Airlines.

|-

|Bombardier CRJ-100

|10

|1994

|2004

|Relocated to Austrian Arrows.

|-

|Fokker F27 Friendship

|

|1985

|1994

|

|-

|}

Lauda Air Executive

Lauda Air also operated a fleet of three small jets, a Cessna Citation II (9 seats), a Bombardier Lear 60 (7 seats), and a Dassault Falcon 20 (12 seats). These were available for private charter flights.

Incidents and accidents

Lauda Air suffered one fatal accident during its existence:

  • On 26 May 1991, Lauda Air Flight 004, operated by a Boeing 767-300ER registered as OE-LAV, named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, crashed in Thailand shortly after take-off from Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, due to the uncommanded deployment of one of its thrust reversers. This accident resulted in the deaths of all 223 passengers and crew.

References

  • (Archive)