Lots of unhappy travellers.....

Oh no, I know someone in Austria who works for them😢

Whoa!
Update: Ryanair and pilots agree, so strike averted.
Meanwhile, Ryanair pilots based in three countries have given notice of upcoming strike action.

Ouch. And right on top of one of the busiest travel periods of the year, too.
Not a happy holiday for some unfortunate ticket holders. Bah! Humbug! :O(

First Lauda Air and now Niki. One can't blame this second Niki Lauda airline on Lauda himself as he sold it to Air Berlin 6 years ago. Air Berlin has been a financial disaster.

Here is more info reported yesterday about Lufthansa not being able to buy Niki (which would have kept that airline afloat) because of EU intervention. The thousands of passengers stranded today are the result of that intervention. The EU didn't stop easyJet from buying Niki's operations at TXL (Berlin).

I read one report today indicating that Niki Lauda was thinking of buying back the airline, after insolvency was declared (I'm assuming that might bring the price down).

Bets

This morning's news reports that the Ryanair strike has been called off after the airline finally agreed to recognise the union.

Unlike Monarch Airlines' news coverage in early October, I didn't see any news story about Niki whatsoever and we have both the 24 hour news coverage of BBC World News and France 24. Ryanair made the news yesterday but not Niki ceasing its business resulting in stranded passengers.

Continental, Niki chiefly serves (served) airports in Austria; Germany and Switzerland, with flights "south to the sun". That is why it didn't register as much on the British or French websites.
The original post was a BBC website story ( http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42355776 ), I read about it in my Swiss daily paper.

Any updates on the status of Alitalia? I believe they are now in bankruptcy and trying (hoping?) someone (maybe Lufthansa) will take them over. Any recent updates in the European news?

Another reason we always take trains.

There is an old saying: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. The cut rate airlines are a hand to mouth operation at best, operating on a business model that is shaky on its very best day. The idea that anyone can operate something as costly, maintenance intensive and fuel hungry as an airliner at a price that competes with a train is preposterous. On the other hand, if anyone is dumb enough to believe it, they are the the lawful prey of the operators. Look up Warren Buffet's rule of thumb on investing in airlines.