Vienna  - Austria's government is set to extend the privatization process of Austrian Airlines AG and is ready to take over some of the carrier's debt, politicians and officials indicated Monday.

The state "might be ready to contribute financially in order to make the sale go through," Transport Minister Werner Faymann said.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the sole remaining bidder, is offering only a symbolic price for the government's 42.75-per-cent stake in Austrian Airlines, with an option of paying more once the ailing carrier has recovered, according to Austrian media reports.

Faymann did not confirm an earlier report by Austrian news agency APA that the state was ready to meet Lufthansa's demand and shoulder up to 500 million euros (631 million dollars) of the flag carrier's debts of around 900 million euros.

The government's mandate to privatise its stake in Austrian Airlines was scheduled to run out Tuesday, but the process was likely to be prolonged until December 31, the finance ministry announced.

Lufthansa is driving a hard bargain after Air France-KLM and the Russian carrier S7 Airlines dropped out of the bidding process last week, both citing a lack of transparency on Austrian Airline's part to disclose existing cooperation contracts with Lufthansa. (dpa)