Niki Lauda has won a surprise final-lap victory against the owner of British Airways to buy the Niki airline that he founded.
The former motor racing champion, 68, was chosen by administrators after bidding re-opened, despite an apparent deal being struck with International Airlines Group at the end of last year.
The three-times Formula One world champion stepped back into the bidding two weeks ago after a court ruling to move the jurisdiction to Austria halted plans for a sale by the German administrator. The two jurisdictions worked together to make their decision after a marathon meeting.
Lauda moved into the airline industry as his driving career came to an end in the 1980s. he had won the world championship in 1975, 1977 and 1984.
He plans to scrap the Niki brand and to integrate the carrier into his Lauda Motion business.
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“Lauda Motion emerged from a transparent bidding process as the best bidder,” Ulla Reisch and Lucas Flöther, respectively the Austrian and German administrators, said. They expected legal approval for the transaction to follow soon. IAG had offered €20 million plus €16.5 million in liquidity.
“Of course, I am delighted,” Lauda, who founded Niki in 2003 and sold out in 2011 to Air Berlin, said in an interview with Oe24, an Austrian broadcaster. “There is no doubt that I have always put my heart and soul into Niki.”
He said that he had 15 aircraft and would bring them into operation by the end of March, to focus on tourist destinations in Turkey, Greece and Spain. Niki aircraft will have about 1,700 slots, or about 0.8 per cent of available slots in Austria, for the summer season.
The racing driver-turned-businessman said that he wanted to work with a partner such as Thomas Cook on sales, crew planning and marketing.