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Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 2/98 NIKI LAUDA AND LAUDA AIR : "I ALWAYS GO EXTREME WAYS" by Heiko Reuter He does not like to talk big. When he flies himself and signs autographs in the cockpit, his face usually doesn't change. Also Niki Lauda likes to get up early and is very straight forward. He hates "endless prattles", as he calls it. He enters his office in the World Trade Center at the Vienna airport in the mornings at eight o'clock. From his employees, he demands a 150-percent. Only when asking the man with the red cap about his newest achievement, he becomes almost euphoric: "This aircraft tops everything. All the others look old as compared to this one." In Seattle, Niki Lauda has taken delivery of his first "Triple Seven". He himself is flying the mega-twin to its new homebase in Vienna in September. Another three 777s are scheduled for delivery to Lauda Air, increasing the fleet of the former car racing idol Niki Lauda to 23 aircraft. The carrier is employing almost 1300 people and turns over more than half a million Marks per year. Lauda himself still holds three type ratings and still logs about 700 flight hours per year. The aviation career of Nikolaus Andreas Lauda began in a much smaller dimension. Nineteen years ago, Formula 1 pilot Niki Lauda makes the famous statement that there are more important things in life but to drive around the circle all the time. He had won the world championships twice and had won 25 Grand Prix races. Niki Nationale, as the Austrian liked to call him, had accomplished everything possible in Formula 1 car racing. Lauda needed something new. He buys two Fokker F-27s each with 44 seats. With them, he plans to enter the regional air traffic market. Only, this was a thorn in the side to state-owned carrier Austrian Airlines. AUA does not like private competition. Furthermore, the AUA managers in Vienna have good connections. Lauda applies for a licence to operate the route from Vienna to Klagenfurt at the Austrian ministry of transport. The officials reject the application - pressured to do so by AUA, Niki Lauda believes. Asked about his biggest mistake as entrepreneur, Lauda even today answers that it was his wrong understanding of the situation in Austria: "I thought we were living in a free country. But, at that time it was like the darkest corner of the Eastern Block." The basis for a serious hostility with AUA was laid back then. It would last for almost two decades. Meanwhile the young Lauda Air is losing its steam. The business is not going well and the bank debts are weighing heavy. Niki Lauda has to charter the aircraft to Egypt. He has no choice but to drive in circles again. It's 1981 and Lauda comes back to the Formula 1 circus. Three years later, he is winning his third world championship title with McLaren. In 1985, he finally says good-bye to car racing. It is also a new beginning for his airline business. With its second start, Lauda Air is more successful. ITAS, one of the large Austrian travel organizations, invests into the carrier. After that, the aircraft have a good load factor. Instead of the Fokkers, Lauda is operating two larger BAC 1-11 in the charter market. The airline is expanding, two 737s have joined the fleet. In 1986, Lauda again applies for a licence to fly scheduled services. Again, Niki Nationale has to be patient. Finally, in May of 1988, Lauda Air's first Boeing 767 takes off for a scheduled service from Vienna via Bangkok and Hong-Kong to Sydney. Following more quarreling, Lauda succeeds in getting the licence for worldwide services in 1990. Up until then, these rights were reserved for Austrian Airlines. Then comes the blackest day in the history of the young airline. On 26 May, 1991, a Boeing 767 with the designation "Mozart" crashes on its way to Vienna shortly after the take-off in Bangkok. The 213 passengers and the ten crew members die. Later, the accident investigation reveals that the thrust reverser of the left engine activated during the climb. Niki Lauda thinks about quitting. The crash in Thailand is one of the worst turning points in his life. But the slight built man from Vienna is a tough guy, one who always gets back up on his feet. In 1976, after his Formula 1 accident at the Nürburgring, it took more than half a minute until he was pulled out of the burning wreck of his red Ferrari. The burns mark him for the rest of his life. Only a month later he sits in a race car again. A year later, he wins the world championships with a Ferrari. 20 years later, his life is doing a touch and go again. His kidneys are no good any more. A transplant kidney is implanted into him during a very difficult operation. The organ comes from his brother Florian. A while ago, Niki Lauda said in an interview: "Giving up, is something a Lauda doesn't do." He followed his motto after it was clear that the crash in Thailand was not caused by a pilot's error. A material fault in the hydraulic system of the thrust reverser (which has meanwhile been corrected) had caused the catastrophic crash. The pilots had no chance. One year after the Thailand event, Lufthansa joins Lauda Air. It's going upward. As Lufthansa's partner, Lauda benefits from the global sales network of the German carrier and also from its safety image. Lauda Air expands. Niki Lauda is a tough business man who is keeping a tight grip on the costs. His service concept with the finest on-board cuisine is highly appreciated. The flight attendants who are dressed in Blue Jeans and wear a red cap are becoming a trade mark. Niki Lauda describes his secret to success: "To be strategically in lead and find the right partners." However, he continues to have a will of his own. For example when the Lufthansa management reportedly advised him to maintain concern discipline concerning his choice of the caterer in Milan. Instead, Lauda put photos showing the "fish from yesterday" from Lufthansa Italian LSG subsidiary on the table. Niki Lauda about himself: "I always go extreme ways." On 13 March of last year he did it again. An urgent press release from Lauda Air landed in the editorial offices: Lauda has sold his airline - believe it or not to his archrival Austrian Airlines. AUA acquires 36 percent of Lauda Air, such being the largest single share holder. Lauda himself only keeps 30 percent. Lufthansa cuts down its 40 percent by half. The entire deal is described by Niki Lauda as "the Austrian air traffic solution". Everyone who knows a little bit about air traffic says: Sure, Austria with its eight million people is really too small for two competing carriers. Still, Lauda Air being integrated into the Austrian Airlines Group - has Lauda, with this deal, not sold his dream? "Not at all", he says. "Together, we are as big as Swissair." The fusioning of Lauda, Austrian, and Tyrolean is to increase the turnover and is supposed to benefit both, the "customers and the shareholders". Nevertheless, Lauda Air's route planning is now done in the AUA headquarters. In 2001, Niki Lauda's contract as head of the carrier expires. Will Lauda continue to be the chief of Lauda Air? "No problem, if the board selects me for the position and if I still enjoy doing it at that point in time", Austria's most popular sportsman says. When the car racing season starts, Lauda sits in the studio of the TV station RTL and comments the events. A consulting contract has been connecting him to Ferrari for years. Even as an airline business man, Niki Lauda can't let go from his old love: "Running an airline is a normal job. Racing is more." From page 30 of FLUG REVUE 2/98 Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 2/98 Copyright 1998 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated January 9, 1998 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany