Austrian low-fares airline Laudamotion has announced it plans to double its Airbus fleet now the Ryanair’s 75% share purchase is complete.
The Irish budget airline’s investment has allowed Laudamotion to purchase an additional 9 Airbus A320 aircraft which will be delivered across Summer 2019.
The new aircraft will bring the fleet total to 18.
The airline has also unveiled a raft of increases to pilot pay which it says are among the highest in the industry including a guaranteed starting salary of €46,000p.a. for First Officers and €90,000p.a. for Captains. The move comes after Ryanair has been hit be a series of strikes by its pilots in Europe over pay and conditions.
Laudamotion’s CEO, Andreas Gruber, said: “Laudamotion now faces the future with great confidence, backed by the enormous financial strength of Ryanair, our new majority shareholder and Europe’s largest airline. 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 p.a. We look forward to offering even more low fare choices to Austrian and German customers.”
Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer, David O’Brien, added: “Ryanair is pleased to complete the purchase of a 75% shareholding in Laudamotion GmbH from Niki Lauda and his team. We applaud the extraordinary work of Niki Lauda, Andreas Gruber and all the Laudamotion team in the face of very difficult market circumstances and unfair competitor activity to deliver this flying programme this summer, which has provided low fares for the first time ever on over 53 routes. 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. We also wish Niki a very speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming him back as soon as possible.”
Laudamotion operates from Vienna airport to destinations across Europe and flights can be purchased via Ryanair.com.