Vienna/Paris  - The privatisation of Austrian Airlines AG is facing uncertainty as Air France-KLM said Tuesday it had dropped its bid, and a newspaper reported that Deutsche Lufthansa AG had also not submitted a formal offer.

According to the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, only the Russian S7 Airlines submitted a valid bid by the deadline on Tuesday at midday.

Vienna/Paris  - Air France-KLM has dropped its bid for Austrian Airlines AG, a spokesman said in Paris on Tuesday.

With the French-Dutch airline out of the race for buying the 42.75-per-cent stake of the Austrian flag carrier currently owned by the state, German Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Russian carrier S7 are likely the only other contenders.

However, Air France-KLM had informed Austrian Airlines that it was interested in continuing talks, the spokesman said.

Earlier, Air France-KLM had complained about the high price and a lack of transparency regarding the Austrian company's books.

New Delhi, Oct 21: Deccan Aviation Limited has been directed by the State Consumer Commission to pay a passenger Rs 30,000 as compensation for putting him into inconvenience by abruptly cancelling its Kullu-Delhi flight for four days at a stretch.

The Commission said that the airlines-service provider was responsible to keep the flights in perfect order and not to put the passengers in unnecessary inconvenience and mental stress by keeping them waiting or sending them back as they might be having some urgent business engagements or assignments.

Johannesburg - At least six people were believed to have died in a plane crash near Johannesburg Tuesday.

Many leading airlines are considering salary cuts of their employees to reduce operating cost. Earlier, they want to start a retrenchment drive to deal with the crisis in the aviation sector. But they seem to drop idea after stiff opposition from the political class of the country. Jet Airways has already taken back its sacked staff.