Ryanair Acquires 100% Shareholding in Laudamotion
Laudamotion began operating in March 2018, taking over the insolvent Niki airline and essentially starting a new airline. Just prior to the launch of passenger flights, the airline announced that Ryanair had taken a 24.9% stake in the airline rising to 75% if approved by the EU competition authorities. This approval came in July and this week, Ryanair have confirmed that they have acquired a 100% shareholding in the company. It now becomes a 100% subsidiary of Ryanair Holdings Plc, the group which also owns Ryanair DAC (Ireland), Ryanair Sun (Poland) and Ryanair UK (UK).
As part of the deal to acquire Laudamotion, the group have also confirmed that the Laudamotion fleet will increase to 25 aircraft for Summer 2019 (up from 19 last summer). This will grow traffic to 4 million passengers in 2019, 6 million in 2020 and 7.5 million in 2021. To support this growth, Letters of Intent (LOI) have been signed with a number of lessors to grow the all Airbus fleet.
The Vienna base will grow from 4 to 8 aircraft, Dusseldorf 7 aircraft, Stuttgart 3 aircraft, and Palma 2 aircraft. In winter 2019, the Vienna base will increase further to 11 aircraft, making Laudamotion Vienna’s second biggest airline, behind Austrian Airlines. The growth will support 400 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew, and engineers across its 4 bases.
Laudamotion’s CEO, Andreas Gruber with cabin crew from the airline.
Speaking in Vienna today, Laudamotion’s CEO, Andreas Gruber, said “With the backing of Ryanair, Laudamotion is set to grow strongly over the next 3 years to carry 10m passengers p.a. We will release details of up to 20 new routes for winter 2019 once we have completed our airport and handling negotiations by the end of March. Our summer ’19 program will allow us to carry 6m passengers in year 2, a growth rate of 50% over the 4m carried in year 1, as we continue to offer our customers in Vienna, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf and Palma the lowest air fares on a fleet of young Airbus aircraft with widespread passenger appeal and great Lauda service.”
About the Author
Mark Dwyer Mark is an airline pilot by profession flying the Boeing 737 for a major European airline. In addition he is also a Type Rating Instructor on the B737. Outside of commercial flying Mark enjoys flying light aircraft from the smallest 3 Axis microlights up to heavier singles. He also instructs on them including tailwheel differences training and is a UK CAA Examiner. He also flies the Chipmunk for the Irish Historic Flight Foundation (IHFF). Mark became the Chairman of the National Microlight Association of Ireland (NMAI) in 2013 and has overseen a massive growth in the organisation. In this role he has worked at local and national levels. In 2015, Mark won ‘Upcoming Aviation Professional Award’ at the Aviation Industry Awards sponsored by the IAA. Mark launched this website back in 2002 while always managing the website, he has also been Editor and Deputy Editor of FlyingInIreland Magazine from 2005 to 2015.
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