There has been a change in the management of the former airline Laudamotion. David O'Brien, who heads the sister companies Lauda Europe and Malta Air, is no longer the managing director of the Austrian company.
Laudamotion GmbH has not been an airline since the end of the previous year, because the AOC and operating license were returned to the Austrian authorities. The Airbus fleet was transferred to the then newly founded Lauda Europe Ltd. to hand over. This now acts as an ACMI and charter provider under a Maltese license.
According to its own information, Laudamotion GmbH provides aviation-related services within the Ryanair Group. Neither David O'Brien nor Andreas Gruber wanted to explain in more detail what is meant by this. According to the mandatory publication in the official gazette of the Wiener Zeitung, the last-named manager is now the sole managing director.
Andreas Gruber was appointed head of the company under the ownership of Niki Lauda. The three-time Formula 1 world champion also acted as managing director himself at the beginning, but resigned from this function after the full sale to Ryanair. The Irish company initially provided Gruber with Colin Casey, later Choorah Singh and then David O'Brien. For a short time, Andreas Fritthum acted as Chief Financial Officer, but he left the company in spring 2020.
In terms of management, there is now a clear separation between Laudamotion GmbH, which is no longer an airline, and Lauda Europe Ltd, because Andreas Gruber is not a member of the board of directors of the Maltese airline. O'Brien, on the other hand, has left the management team at Laudamotion.