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Laudamotion is a small low-cost airline based out of Austria which has announced new livery and plans to double the fleet of Airbus planes, a surprise turn of events from an airline that seemed to never really ‘take off’ until now.

Laudamotion currently services 38 destinations with nine planes (Five Airbus A320-200s and four Airbus A321-200s) and will double their fleet with another new nine Airbus planes by next summer, bringing the airlines capacity up to 53 routes with 18 aircraft. The airline has two hubs (One in Dusseldorf and Vienna) with a third new hub in Berlin operating this year.

New Expansion

This is all due to the new support from their new part owner, Ryanair, who acquired almost 25% for slightly less than 50 million euros ($61.7 million) with the intent to purchase another 50% this August, bringing the ownership up to 75%.

Previously the airline was named Amira Air, and was renamed Laudamotion by Niki Lauda when he took over the firm in early 2016. This would be his third airline, the first being Lauda Air (which was sold and merged into Austrian airlines in April 2013), the second called Niki and was merged with its ill-fated major partner Airberlin.

However, in January 2018, Niki Lauda (The person), used Laudamotion (The airline) to buy Niki (the airline) back, beating competitors such as Lufthansa.

It remains to be seen what will happen to the fleet of planes from Niki, as we understand the new planes for Laudamotion will be coming from Airbus or from leasers. Airbus is currently sold out capacity until 2020. LaudaMotion plans to boost its own fleet to thirty jets within two years.

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“Laudamotion has already achieved load factors over 90% in its first summer season, thanks to the efforts of over 500 Laudamotion colleagues. These 9 additional 2019 Airbus deliveries ensure that Laudamotion will grow again by at least 20% in 2019 to 5m guests per annum. We look forward to offering even more low fare choices to Austrian and German customers.” – Andreas Gruber, Laudamotion’s CEO

New Livery

These new Airbus planes will have a new livery to reflect the new direction of the company.

The new livery will reflect its Austrian heritage and incorporates some product design principles from owner Ryanair. On the exterior, they have changed the name on the plane to a catchier Lauda.

The clean minimalist look and large simple typography are perfect for brand recognition (They even have the website address on the side of the plane), to help the airline to make a splash in the competitive landscape. The bold lines and grey bottom also mean that it will be very easy to maintain.

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“We look forward to fulfilling Niki Lauda’s vision of Laudamotion as Austria’s No. 1 low fare airline and providing competition and choice to the high fare airlines which have for too long fleeced Austrian and German consumers/visitors” – David O’Brien, Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer

With Ryanair’s ongoing domination of Europe against competitors EasyJet and Wizz Air, one has to wonder where Lauda fits in into the battle for the low-cost skies.