The worlds of Formula 1 and commercial airlines are today mourning the sad passing of Niki Lauda. His family announced today (Tuesday) that he had “passed away peacefully” on Monday, May 20. He was 70.
Lauda was FI World Champion three time, in 1975 and 1977 while driving for Ferrari, and again in 1984 while driving for McLaren. His achievement in 1977 was even more remarkable as this followed a horrific accident in the 1976 German Grand prix where he suffered extensive burns and life-threatening damage to his lungs but returned to full-time racing just 40 days after the incident.
On his retirement from F1 in 1985, Lauda turned his full-time attention to the management of Austrian-headquartered Lauda Air, the airline he founded in 1979. Having later sold the airline to Austrian Airlines, in 2003 Lauda then founded his second Airline, Niki, which then merged with Air Berlin in 2011. In 2016 he acquired the Austrian carrier Amira Air, renaming it Laudamotion, which then went on to acquire Niki in January 2018 after Air Berlin went bankrupt. Having taken an initial 24.9% stake in Laudamotion in March 2018, Ryanair increased its holding to 75% in August that year, before completing it’s 100% buyout of the carrier in January this year.
