Niki Lauda's new airline to cooperate with Lufthansa

Laudamotion will provide up to 8 crewed aircraft to Eurowings until the end of May, Niki Lauda's repurchased and rebranded carrier said Friday. Lufthansa had planned to grow Eurowings by buying failed Air Berlin's Niki unit itself but scrapped the purchase after the EC indicated it would veto the deal. Lauda, who also secured a cooperation deal with Thomas Cook's Condor, is still under time pressure to fill his planes for the summer, so he is keen to benefit from Lufthansa's sales and marketing channels. Eurowings, on the other hand, can put Laudamotion's capacity to good use. The basic agreement between Lauda and Lufthansa covers a little more than 2 months, not the whole summer season that runs to October. "Laudamotion and Eurowings will evaluate a possible cooperation beyond that date in the coming weeks," Laudamotion said. <br/>