Due to their attractive combination of properties (high resistance to oxidation and wear, high melting point, and lower density) iron and nickel aluminides show promise for the development of advanced materials and coatings However, poor room temperature ductility and susceptibility to intergranular cracking restrict their commercial application. To provide the structure required composite materials produced by the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) are promising. In this paper, the potential of thermally sprayed NiAl/aluminum oxide and FeAl/aluminum oxide composite powders produced using the SHS method is evaluated. The results of the structure and property investigations for the synthesized powders as well as for the resulting plasma coatings are presented. Paper includes a German-language abstract.