Thomas Cook Share News (TCG)

* Lufthansa had tried to buy the struggling carrier

* Deal with Laudamotion runs until end of May

* Further cooperation to be evaluated(Adds detail, competition authority, background)

VIENNA, March 23 (Reuters) - Austria's Laudamotion willprovide up to eight crewed aircraft to Lufthansa'slow-cost carrier Eurowings until the end of May, Niki Lauda'srepurchased and rebranded carrier said on Friday.

Lufthansa had planned to grow Eurowings by buying failed AirBerlin's Niki unit itself but scrapped the purchase after theEuropean Commission indicated it would veto the deal.

Niki was instead bought by its founder Lauda, who beat rivaloffers from British Airways-owner IAG and Irishlow-cost giant Ryanair.

The three-times Formula One world champion then sold 75percent of the carrier to Ryanair before the first planes tookoff again.

But Lauda, who also secured a cooperation deal with ThomasCook's Condor, is still under time pressure to fill hisplanes for the summer, so he is keen to benefit from Lufthansa'ssales and marketing channels.

The German flagship carrier, on the other hand, can putLaudamotion's capacity to good use.

The basic agreement between Lauda and Lufthansa covers alittle more than two months, not the whole summer season thatruns to October.

"Laudamotion and Eurowings will evaluate a possiblecooperation beyond that date in the coming weeks," Laudamotionsaid in a statement.

Eurowings did not immediately comment. Austria's competitionauthority said it would give its view on the deal after theEaster holidays, which run to the start of April.(Reporting by Kirsti KnolleEditing by David Goodman and Edmund Blair)