Air Niki / Air Berlin

The German carrier Air Berlin takes a stake in NIKI, Niki Lauda’s new airline

The Austrian “N.L. Luftfahrt GmbH” and the German “Air Berlin GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs KG” have formed an alliance. Air Berlin is acquiring 24 per cent of Niki Lauda’s shares in the airline he established recently. Air Berlin will be providing its services to look after sales and route marketing as well as logistics. The primary objective of the co-operation is jointly to open up the Austrian and eastern European markets.

On 28th November last year, Niki Lauda took over the Austrian subsidiary of “Aero Lloyd”, the German airline that had gone into receivership. His declared aim was to set up a new low-cost carrier in addition to operating a charter business.
Lauda managed to sign charter contracts with major tour operators. NIKI is currently using two aircraft, a 174-seater Airbus 320 and a 210-seat Airbus 321, to fly Austrian holidaymakers from Vienna and Salzburg to the Canaries, Madeira and Egypt.

In April 2004 another two Airbus 320s will be added to the fleet, signalling the start of operations as a low-cost carrier.
Niki Lauda remarked: “I was looking to co-operate with a strong partner who can provide a sales organisation and logistics when I met Joachim Hunold from Air Berlin. We hit it off straight away and finally decided on a joint future for both airlines with a handshake.” The agreement was approved by Air Berlin’s shareholders.

Joachim Hunold, managing partner of Air Berlin, spoke of the benefits derived from the new holding: “Although we only started to operate our routes from Germany to Vienna last year, we are already the third largest carrier at Schwechat airport. Additional routes from Vienna, to eastern Europe for instance, or to Majorca, were not an option for us in the past because we did not have enough planes or personnel. That is why I am delighted to have found a partner with a high-profile name in Austria, and one who has the same entrepreneurial principles as I do.”

In 2003 Air Berlin carried 9.6 million passengers, making it the second largest German airline after Lufthansa, and the third largest low-cost carrier in Europe. In 2002 the company already had 6.7 million passengers. Turnover increased from 696 to 894 million euros. The airline sold well over 50 per cent of its tickets in the budget sector. The increase of about 43 per cent in the volume of passengers carried is primarily due to the success of the Air Berlin City Shuttle, which started in the autumn of 2002 and links eight German airports with major cities such as London, Vienna, Zurich, Milan, Rome and Barcelona. Air Berlin flies from a total of 18 German airports to 42 destinations in Europe, Turkey and North Africa.

The second mainstay of Air Berlin’s operations is the Majorca Shuttle. Today Air Berlin is the undisputed and absolute market leader at Europe’s major tourist airport. The number of passengers carried to and from Palma de Mallorca increased from 1.9 to 2.8 million in 2003, bucking the general trend. Twice a day Air Berlin provides fast connections from Palma to several destinations on the Spanish mainland.

Integration in the Air Berlin hub

The plan is to integrate NIKI in the Air Berlin hub of Palma de Mallorca in future. As from 16th February there will be a code-share flight from Vienna and Düsseldorf. Currently Air Berlin has two flights a day between Düsseldorf and Vienna. There are other Air Berlin connections to Berlin, Hamburg and Dortmund. According to Joachim Hunold, all four routes are used to “excellent” capacity.

At the press conference both Niki Lauda and Joachim Hunold emphasised that the aim of jointly developing the eastern European market is a priority. Over and above its 24 per cent share, Air Berlin will be a service provider to NIKI by making its sales platform (internet, call centre, travel agents) and computer system available to its Austrian partner. In Austria NIKI will continue to deal with airport operations, tour organisers and travel agents.

All flights on NIKI can shortly be booked online at both “flyniki.com” and “airberlin.com” – from 29 euros one way. In return it will also be possible to book Air Berlin seats via “flyniki.com” or the joint service centre of NIKI and Air Berlin (by telephoning 0810-1025 73 800 in Austria).