On October 3rd, Ryanair subsidiary Lauda Europe ferried its oldest A320 to Cotswold Airport for part-out.
The aircraft, registered 9H-LOP, is one of 27 operated by the Vienna-based carrier, and was originally delivered to Qatar Airways in October 2001. It made its last commercial flight as FR7351 from Barcelona to Vienna on September 30th, according to data from Flightradar24, and then underwent end-of-lease work including the partial removal of its colour scheme, before being flown to Kemble’s Cotswold Airport as RYR303.
During its tenure at Qatar, the 23-year-old aircraft was registered A7-ADA and named Al Zubara, configured with 132 economy seats and a further 12 in Business. It was withdrawn from use in 2019 and briefly registered in Ireland with lessor Castlelake, before being placed with Lauda at the end of that April. It has remained with Lauda ever since, though has carried both Austrian and Maltese registrations.

Lauda can trace its history back to Lauda Air, which was established in 1979 by Formula 1 champion Niki Lauda. He sold the company to Austrian Airlines in 2000, and shortly thereafter founded Niki, which would go on to become an airberlin subsidiary until its 2017 collapse. Niki Lauda emerged as the successful bidder for Niki’s assets, with the airline merging into his existing charter operator Amira Air to create Laudamotion. In March 2018, Ryanair took over a minority shareholding, and later increased this to become the sole shareholder following Lauda’s 2019 passing. In late 2020, the airline’s AOC was relocated to Malta, though its brand and operations remain unchanged.
It is now expected that 9H-LOP will be parted out – a process involving the removal of serviceable parts for re-use or onward sale – by Kemble-based Air Salvage International over the coming months.

Cianan Kelly is an aviation writer and, most importantly, enthusiast, with a passion for regional aviation and the essential connectivity it can create. He joined Fresh Aviation in late 2022 with the aim of contributing to high-quality aviation journalism and research.