1ST LEAD Racing champ Lauda among four bidders for Air Berlin subsidiary Niki By Albert Otti and Franziska Hoehnl, dpa

Vienna (dpa) - Former Formula One champion and entrepreneur Niki Lauda is one of the four parties who has placed a bid for Niki airline, Air Berlin‘s insolvent subsidiary, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.The other bidding parties were Tuifly, travel group Thomas Cook and British Airways parent company IAG, according to information obtained by dpa.Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair and the German freight company Zeitfracht announced that they would not place bids of their own, despite signalling earlier that they were interested in the Austria-based carrier.However, Zeitfracht, as well as German aircraft service firm Nayak, said they would like to cooperate with Niki‘s potential buyers.Niki Lauda had founded the airline under his name in 2003 but sold it to now-insolvent Air Berlin in 2011.The Austrian airline with around 1,000 employees was deemed a particularly lucrative part of the Air Berlin company.Earlier this month, major aviation industry player Lufthansa pulled out of a potential purchase of Niki after the European Commission signalled it might object due to concerns over a monopoly.The Vienna-based Niki mainly served European and North African vacation destinations.