BERLIN: Ryanair has agreed to buy a majority stake in the new Austrian leisure airline founded by former motor racing champion Niki Lauda in a major push on the German and Austrian markets dominated by Lufthansa.
The Irish airline, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, has agreed to buy an initial 24.9 percent stake in Vienna-based Laudamotion, formed out of insolvent carrier Niki, formerly part of Air Berlin.
That will rise to 75 percent “as soon as possible,” subject to EU regulatory approval, the airlines said in a statement. Ryanair will lease Laudamotion six-crewed planes to increase its fleet to 21 planes this summer and to 30 planes within three years. Ryanair currently operates a fleet of 430 Boeing 737s.
Niki, which flies to tourist destinations from Germany and Austria using Airbus A320 planes, was seen as the most attractive part of insolvent Air Berlin and this deal sees it end up in the hands of Ryanair, after attempts by Lufthansa and British Airways-parent IAG to secure it.
“This surprise move by Ryanair will be exactly what Lufthansa is not looking for,” aviation consultant John Strickland said.
“Despite the consolidating effect of the majority Air Berlin acquisition (under which Lufthansa bought much of the business, but not Niki) they will face not only growing Ryanair capacity in Germany but now also significant influence in Austria,” he said.
Germany has been slow to open up to low-cost airlines, helping to protect home carrier Lufthansa against the march of the likes of easyJet and Ryanair.
Low-cost carriers typically account for about 10-20 percent of traffic at Germany’s airports, while they command an over 50 percent market share in Europe as a whole on short-haul flights.
But after the collapse of Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline, the budget players are taking their chance to expand. EasyJet has acquired Air Berlin’s operations at Berlin Tegel airport and has started German domestic routes in competition with Lufthansa.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary had been a fierce critic of Lufthansa’s initial plans to buy much of Air Berlin. After dropping the Niki plans, Lufthansa has ended up with Air Berlin unit LGW, but also took on 77 of the defunct carrier’s fleet of around 140 leased planes.
Lufthansa also recently overtook Ryanair as Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers and the Laudamotion acquisition could help Ryanair to regain the title.
“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,” O’Leary said in a statement.
Niki Lauda needed partners to help get Laudamotion off the ground and was working with Thomas Cook’s Condor and was also in discussions over leasing crewed planes to Lufthansa’s budget arm Eurowings.
Lauda said on Tuesday the talks with Eurowings continued. Condor CEO Ralf Teckentrup said it planned to start marketing Laudamotion flights this week, as agreed.
The deal gives Laudamotion “unbelievable sales power,” Lauda told journalists onboard a flight from Vienna to Duesseldorf. “I met O’Leary recently and we came to an agreement relatively quickly,” he said.
Ryanair will invest less than €50 million ($62 million), though will provide an additional €50 million in funding for start-up and operating costs in the first year.
Laudamotion will start flying from Germany this week, from Switzerland in April and from Austria in June, Lauda said.
Ryanair has for two decades operated only Boeing 737s, a model that it says allows for significant flexibility and savings on training and maintenance.
But O’Leary said Laudamotion would support a fleet of Airbus aircraft “which is something we have hoped to develop within the Ryanair group for some years.”
An Airbus fleet could give O’Leary leverage in future orders from Boeing and would allow it to hire pilots trained for Airbus as well as Boeing planes in an extremely competitive European labor market. Aer Lingus, which Ryanair was twice blocked from buying by European regulators, operated an all-Airbus fleet.
The Laudamotion deal will be a rare acquisition for Ryanair, which has not bought an airline since Buzz in 2003. Ryanair closed that airline a year later.
Ryanair to buy Niki Lauda airline in challenge to Lufthansa
Ryanair to buy Niki Lauda airline in challenge to Lufthansa
Arab food and beverage sector draws $22bn in foreign investment over 2 decades: Dhaman
JEDDAH: Foreign investors committed about $22 billion to the Arab region’s food and beverage sector over the past two decades, backing 516 projects that generated roughly 93,000 jobs, according to a new sectoral report.
In its third food and beverage industry study for 2025, the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corp., known as Dhaman, said the bulk of investment flowed to a handful of markets. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Morocco and Qatar attracted 421 projects — about 82 percent of the total — with capital expenditure exceeding $17 billion, or nearly four-fifths of overall investment.
Projects in those five countries accounted for around 71,000 jobs, representing 76 percent of total employment created by foreign direct investment in the sector over the 2003–2024 period, the report said, according to figures carried by the Kuwait News Agency.
“The US has been the region's top food and beverage investor over the past 22 years with 74 projects or 14 projects of the total, and Capex of approximately $4 billion or 18 percent of the total, creating more than 14,000 jobs,” KUNA reported.
Investment was also concentrated among a small group of multinational players. The sector’s top 10 foreign investors accounted for roughly 15 percent of projects, 32 percent of capital expenditure and 29 percent of newly created jobs.
Swiss food group Nestlé led in project count with 14 initiatives, while Ukrainian agribusiness firm NIBULON topped capital spending and job creation, investing $2 billion and generating around 6,000 jobs.
At the inter-Arab investment level, the report noted that 12 Arab countries invested in 108 projects, accounting for about 21 percent of total FDI projects in the sector over the past 22 years. These initiatives, carried out by 65 companies, involved $6.5 billion in capital expenditure, representing 30 percent of total FDI, and generated nearly 28,000 jobs.
The UAE led inter-Arab investments, accounting for 45 percent of total projects and 58 percent of total capital expenditure, the report added, according to KUNA.
The report also noted that the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar topped the Arab ranking as the most attractive countries for investment in the sector in 2024, followed by Oman, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, and Kuwait.
Looking ahead, Dhaman expects consumer demand to continue rising. Food and non-alcoholic beverage sales across 16 Arab countries are projected to increase 8.6 percent to more than $430 billion by the end of 2025, equivalent to 4.2 percent of global sales, before exceeding $560 billion by 2029.
Sales are expected to remain highly concentrated geographically, with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, the UAE and Iraq accounting for about 77 percent of the regional total. By product category, meat and poultry are forecast to lead with sales of about $106 billion, followed by cereals, pasta and baked goods at roughly $63 billion.
Average annual per capita spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages in the region is projected to rise 7.2 percent to more than $1,845 by the end of 2025, approaching the global average, and to reach about $2,255 by 2029. Household spending on these products is expected to represent 25.8 percent of total expenditure in 13 Arab countries, above the global average of 24.2 percent.
Arab external trade in food and beverages grew more than 15 percent in 2024 to $195 billion, with exports rising 18 percent to $56 billion and imports increasing 14 percent to $139 billion. Brazil was the largest foreign supplier to the region, exporting $16.5 billion worth of products, while Saudi Arabia ranked as the top Arab exporter at $6.6 billion.
