BERLIN: Ryanair plans to buy a stake in new Austrian leisure carrier Laudamotion, helping former motor racing champion Niki Lauda to get the airline up and running and giving the Irish carrier a bigger presence in Germany and Austria.
Ryanair has agreed to buy an initial 24.9 percent stake in Laudamotion, formed out of insolvent carrier Niki which was part of Air Berlin, and plans for that to rise to 75 percent “as soon as possible,” subject to EU approval.
The Irish budget carrier will invest less than €50 million, though will provide an additional €50 million in funding for start-up and operating costs in the first year.
“This Laudamotion partnership is good news for Austrian and German consumers/visitors who can now look forward to real competition, more choice and lower fares,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said in a statement.
Niki, which flies to tourist destinations from Germany and Austria using A320 planes, was seen as the most attractive part of insolvent Air Berlin.
Germany’s largest carrier Lufthansa dropped plans to buy Niki in December over competition concerns.
British Airways parent IAG then won a bidding round, before that decision was canceled over legal action. Lauda eventually won a new bidding process to buy back the airline he founded.
Ryanair plans to buy stake at new Austrian leisure carrier Laudamotion
Ryanair plans to buy stake at new Austrian leisure carrier Laudamotion
Israel says carrying out ‘large-scale strikes’ on Tehran
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it launched “large-scale strikes” on Tehran on Monday, two days since the start of a US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
“The Israeli Air Force... has begun an additional wave of strikes against the Iranian terror regime at the heart of Tehran,” the military said in a statement.
Israel announced the new “large-scale” strikes, while President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of US service members and said the war could last for weeks.
In other developments:
• The European Union has warned of the cost to the Middle East of a long war, and said it was reinforcing its naval mission in the Red Sea with additional vessels as Iran’s retaliation to US-Israeli strikes threatens maritime traffic, a European diplomat said.
Two new French ships will join the EU’s Aspides mission, bringing to five the number of warships taking part, the diplomat told AFP.
• Gulf states vowed to defend themselves against Iranian attacks, including by “responding to the aggression” if need be, after the Gulf Cooperation Council convened via video-link to formulate a unified response.
• Top US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the case Tuesday to Congress for the attack on Iran. Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and military chief General Dan Caine “will brief the full membership of both chambers of Congress,” White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said.
• Container shipping company Maersk said it was halting passage through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz for “safety” reasons.
The Danish group was the latest of several shipping groups to make similar announcements after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared the strait closed on Saturday.
• Seven people were injured in the Jerusalem area following the latest salvo of missiles fired from Iran, Israeli firefighters said.
• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had agreed to let the United States use UK bases to fire “defensive” strikes aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and their launchers. But in a video address posted to social media, he added: “We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and we will not join offensive action now.
• Iranian media reported that a police station in a city on the outskirts of Tehran had been hit, killing an unspecified number of people, with others reportedly trapped under debris. “According to initial reports, a number of citizens were martyred and some were trapped under the rubble,” the Tasnim news agency reported.
• Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Gandhi hospital in northern Tehran had been targeted by strikes. The Fars and Mizan agencies published a video, presented as being from inside the facility, showing debris on the floor among wheelchairs.
