* May 26 – In Thailand, a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashes near Bangkok, killing all 223 people on board.

In 1982, upon his return for McLaren, his helmet became white with the red ' L ' of Lauda Air on the sides, complete with branding from his personal sponsor Parmalat on the top.

Lauda returned to running his airline, Lauda Air, on his second Formula One retirement in 1985.

On 26 May 1991, Lauda Air Flight 004, a Boeing 767-3Z9ER named " Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ," crashed in Thailand shortly after take-off from Bangkok due to the un-commanded deployment of one of its thrust reversers, with the loss of all 223 passengers and crew aboard the 767.

Falco's good friend Niki Lauda named one of the Boeing airplanes in his Lauda Air fleet " Falco " after the singer.

* On 26 May 1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004, which was headed to Wien-Schwechat International Airport in Vienna, suffered an in-flight deployment of the thrust reverser on the No. 1 engine after taking off from Don Mueang.

The new millennium started off with the significant admission of The Austrian Airlines Group ( Austrian Airlines, Tyrolean Airways and Lauda Air ) in March.

Air New Zealand, Alitalia, Ansett Australia, Continental Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Lauda Air, Qantas, Saudia, Swissair, VASP.

Eventually, his hobby led him to meet some airline personalities, some of them famous celebrities, like Niki Lauda, Formula One champion and owner of Lauda Air.

Lauda Air is an airline based in Schwechat, Austria.

Lauda Air is a member of the Austrian Airlines Group and is an affiliate of Star Alliance.

Lauda Air Boeing 737 Next Generation | Boeing 737-700 lands at London Heathrow Airport, England.

In 2005 the flight operation merged with Austrian Airlines, and the label Lauda Air now operates charter flights within the Austrian Airlines Group. Since 2007 with the additional slogan " The Austrian Airlines | Austrian way to holidays "

As a result of subsequent fleet cuts Austrian Airlines suspended some long-haul services and Lauda Air withdrew from the long-haul charter market over the next year.

Lauda Air operates the following scheduled charter flights on behalf of Austrian Airlines, which can be booked directly on the internet.

Lauda Air Boeing 737 | Boeing 737-800

* May 26 – Minutes after takeoff from Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, a thrust reverser deploys in flight aboard Lauda Air Flight 004, the Boeing 767-3Z9ER Mozart, causing it to stall, dive, and disintegrate at 4, 000 feet ( 1, 219 m ).

* On 26 May 1991 Lauda Air Flight NG004.

* Lauda Air Flight 004

was a less successful year for the team: Fittipaldi was second in the championship behind Niki Lauda.

In Lauda was again strong in his Ferrari ; at mid season he led the championship with 56 points whilst Hunt had only 26 despite wins in Spain ( a race from which he was initially disqualified ) and France.

But at the German Grand Prix Lauda crashed heavily, was nearly killed and missed the next two races.

Lauda was saved by the combined actions of fellow drivers Arturo Merzario, Guy Edwards, Brett Lunger, and Harald Ertl, rather than by the ill-equipped track marshals.

Lauda was born in Vienna, Austria, to a wealthy family.

His paternal grandfather was the Viennese-born businessman Hans Lauda.

After starting out with a Mini, Lauda moved on into Formula Vee, as was normal in Central Europe, but rapidly moved up to drive in private Porsche and Chevron sports cars.

Although the F2 cars were good ( and Lauda's test-driving skills impressed March principal Robin Herd ), March's 1972 F1 season was catastrophic and Lauda, in despair and deep debt, briefly contemplated suicide but finally took out yet another bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in 1973.

Lauda was instantly quick but the team was in decline ; his big break came when his BRM team-mate Clay Regazzoni rejoined Ferrari in 1974 and team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what he thought of Lauda.

The team's faith in the little-known Lauda was quickly rewarded by a second-place finish in his début race for the team, the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix.

A week before the 1976 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, ( even though he was the fastest driver on that circuit at the time ) Lauda tried to boycott the race, largely due to the 23 kilometer circuit's safety arrangements.

As Lauda was wearing a modified helmet, the foam had compressed and it had slid off his head after the accident, leaving his face exposed to the fire.

Although Lauda was conscious and able to stand immediately after the accident, he later lapsed into a coma.

Lauda qualified third, one place behind Hunt, but on race day there was torrential rain and Lauda retired after 2 laps, stating that he felt it was unsafe to continue under these conditions, especially since his eyes were watering excessively because of his fire-damaged tear ducts.

Lauda disliked his new teammate, Carlos Reutemann, who already was used as his replacement driver while he was out of contest.

Lauda was not comfortable with this move and felt he had been let down by Ferrari.

Lauda crashed in his Ferrari coming out of the left-hand kink before Bergwerk, for causes that were never established.

The campaign was generally chaotic: having acquired major sponsorship, Louis Stanley originally planned to field up to six cars ( three for established drivers, three for paying journeymen and young drivers ) of varying designs including P153s, P160s and P180s and actually ran up to five for a mix of paying and paid drivers until it became obvious that it was completely overstretched — the team's sponsors insisted that the team should cut back to a more reasonable level and only three cars were run in 1973 for Beltoise, Lauda and Regazzoni.

Lauda Air Italy had been established in 1990 and was majority-owned by the Volante company, itself controlled by Niki Lauda, while the remaining shares were with Gruppo Ventaglio.

At the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, Lauda informed Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone that he wished to retire immediately, as he had no more desire to " drive around in circles ".

A further non-championship event took place at Imola in 1979, which was won by Niki Lauda for Brabham-Alfa Romeo.

* Lauda concertata for marimba and orchestra ( 1979 )

At the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, he replaced Niki Lauda at Brabham after the Austrian abruptly quit the team and Formula One.

The series ran for two years, with Niki Lauda winning the 1979 season, and Nelson Piquet the 1980 season.

Ferrari enjoyed a successful spell in Formula 1 in the 1970s, with Niki Lauda winning the World Championship in 1975 and 1977, and Jody Scheckter in 1979.