How it started
Development as an independent airline
Lauda Air was established in April 1979 by former Formula One world motor racing champion Niki Lauda with two Fokker F27s. Flight operations were launched in the following month of May. Charter operations continued until 1983, with the adoption of increasingly larger aircraft. A period of hiatus followed until 1985, when large-scale charter flights resumed. In that year, ITAS Austria purchased a 49% share. Scheduled services began in May 1988. In 1991, the fleet consisted of two Boeing 737-300s, two Boeing 767-300ERs and a Learjet 36.
In May 1988, Lauda started its first long-haul flights from Vienna to Sydney and Melbourne via Bangkok. In the 1990s, it started to fly its Sydney and Melbourne flights via Kuala Lumpur and Bali. Daily flights to Dubai, Cuba, and Miami via Munich followed starting from August 1990.
Accelerated market penetration within Europe was made by the signing of a strategic alliance with Lufthansa in 1992, consolidated in the following year. At the same time, the first Bombardier CRJ-100s were taken into service, required for intra-European connections and to Scandinavia. Also in 1992, Lauda established its subsidiary, Lauda Asia Airways, in legal status to Taiwan, like Japan Asia Airways.
Merger with Austrian Airlines
Lauda Air became a wholly owned subsidiary of Austrian Airlines in December 2000 and employed thirty-five people as of March 2007. In 2005 the flight operations merged with Austrian Airlines, and the brand "Lauda Air" operated charter flights within the Austrian Airlines Group.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lauda Air, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2