Aviation 10

Ryanair Completes Laudamotion Deal

Irish carrier Ryanair has completed the

purchase of a 75% shareholding in Austria’s

low-fare airline Laudamotion GmbH

from Niki Lauda in August. The deal

was originally disclosed, subject to EU

competition approval, in March.

Shortly after the transaction had gone

through, Laudamotion announced a series

of initiatives to support its continued

growth, including doubling its Airbus A

 eet from nine to 18 in the summer of

2019, opening new offices in Vienna and

increasing pilots’ pay. Andreas Gruber,

Laudamotion’s CEO, said the airline “now

faces the future with great con dence,

backed by the enormous  nancial strength

of Ryanair, our new majority shareholder

and Europe’s largest airline”.

The chief executive officer added:

“Laudamotion has already achieved

load factors over 90% in its  rst summer

season, thanks to the efforts of over 500

[of our] colleagues. These nine additional

2019 Airbus deliveries ensure [it] will grow

again by at least 20% in 2019 to 5m guests

per annum.”

While the chief commercial officer of

Ryanair, David O’Brien, commenting on

the deal stated that: “We look forward

to ful lling Niki’s vision of Laudamotion

as Austria’s No.1 low-fares airline and

providing competition and choice to the

high-fare airlines.”

One-time 233 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) BAe Harrier

GR.5 ZD353 has entered the reassembly workshop at the

Pima Air & Space Museum in Arizona. The Harrier, which has

retained its dark green RAF livery and OCU markings, joined

the collection last year and but has been awaiting its turn in the

busy workshop.

When completed it will become part of an already impressive

Harrier line-up at the museum, which includes GR.3 XV804, AV-8C

159241, TAV-8A 159382 and the Kestrel development aircraft, XS690.

Pima also took delivery of former Fleet Air Arm Sea Harrier FA.

ZH810 on September 5, the only example of its type preserved in a

US museum.

Former RAF Harrier to go on Show at Pima

Harrier GR.5 ZD353 in the Pima

workshop on September 4. via PASM

A UK Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning

has  own carrying an Advanced Short-

Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) for the

 rst time. The  ight, which the Ministry

of Defence reports happened in August,

marked the start of operational testing of

the weapon as part of the type’s Block

3F software release. The jet,  own by a

pilot from 17 Sqn, took to the skies from

its home base of Edwards AFB, California.

Stuart Andrew, the Minister for Defence

Procurement, said: “The F-35 Lightning

 eet has moved another step closer with

this landmark  ight to defending the skies

and supporting our illustrious aircraft

carriers. Exceptional engineering from the

UK is not only helping to build what is the

world’s most advanced  ghter jet, but is

also ensuring it is equipped with the very

best  repower.”

Preparations for the Lightning’s

maritime strike role took a leap forward on

August 19 when the Royal Navy’s HMS

Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier departed

her home port of Portsmouth bound

for the east coast of the US, to embark

F-35B  ghters for the  rst time. The

65,000-tonne warship will receive a pair of

Lightning test aircraft from the Integrated

Test Force (ITF) based at NAS Patuxent

River, Maryland, during the four-month

WESTLANT 18 deployment.

Lockheed Martin F-35B ZM136  tted with an ASRAAM missile during the tests at Edwards AFB

in California. Lockheed Martin

Missile Tests for

UK Lightnings

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HEADLINES

Aviation News incorporating Jets October 2018