Austrian airline Niki will be relaunched by founder Niki Lauda after administrators of failed German parent Air Berlin accepted his bid for the airline in preference to IAG’s.
Former Formula 1 champion Lauda plans to relaunch Niki under a new name and in partnership with Thomas Cook Airlines.
Lauda outbid IAG, parent group of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, in a final bidding round this week.
Details of the successful offer were undisclosed, but IAG repeated a previous offer totalling €36.5 million for the Austrian carrier.
IAG had previously announced plans for Niki’s acquisition by low-cost carrier Vueling, based in Barcelona.
The group’s bid foundered after the Niki insolvency process switched to Vienna from Berlin.
IAG expressed disappointment at the failure of its bid which would have seen it take over 15 of Niki’s 21 Airbus A320s and 740 of the carrier’s 1,000 employees.
Lauda made the winning offer in the name of his Austria-based company Laudamotion.
He said the airline would relaunch in March under a new name as the acquisition did not include the Niki brand.
Lauda said he would seek talks on a partnership agreement with Thomas Cook Airlines and its German carrier Condor.
He said: “I need an operational partner, for example for crew planning and sales.”
Thomas Cook Airlines confirmed it is in talks with Lauda on “operational support services”.
Niki had a large base at Palma airport and was a significant operator to Majorca from German-speaking markets after taking over Air Berlin’s routes to Palma last summer.
German trade publication FVW reported Thomas Cook is looking to replace capacity it previously took with Air Berlin.
Lauda established Laudamotion as a private jet operator in 2016. He founded Niki in 2003 and sold the carrier to Air Berlin in 2011.
Air Berlin filed for insolvency last August after shareholder Etihad withdrew support. The carrier ceased flying at the end of October.
EasyJet has taken over Air Berlin’s operations at Berlin Tegel airport, from which it commenced flying on January 5.