 Niki Lauda's new airline to co-operate with Lufthansa Vienna, Reuters, Austria's Lauda motion will provide up to eight crewed aircraft to Lufthansa's LHAG.DE low-cost carrier Eurowings until the end of May, Niki Lauda's repurchased and rebranded carrier said on Friday. Lufthansa had planned to grow Eurowings by buying failed Air Berlin's Niki unit itself but scrapped the purchase after the European Commission indicated it would veto the deal. Niki was instead bought by its founder Lauda, who beat rival offers from British airways owner IAGICAG.LN Irish low-cost giant Ryanair RIA.I. The three-times Formula One world champion then sold 75% of the carrier to Ryanair before the first planes took off again. But Lauda, who also secured a co-operation deal with Thomas Cook's TCG.L.Konder, is still under time pressure to fill his planes for the summer, so he is keen to benefit from Lufthansa's sales and marketing channels. The German flagship carrier, on the other hand, can put Laudmotion's capacity to good use. The basic agreement between Lauda and Lufthansa covers a little more than two months, not the whole summer season that runs to October. Laudmotion and Eurowings will evaluate a possible co-operation beyond that date in the coming weeks, Laudmotion said in a statement. Eurowings did not immediately comment. Austria's competition authority said it would give its view on the deal after the Easter holidays, which run to the start of April.