Vienna- Austria's government indicated Monday it could take over some of the debt of Austrian Airlines AG before selling it to either Germany's Lufthansa AG or Russian carrier S7 Airlines.
The government's mandate to privatize its 42.75-per-cent 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.
The state "might be ready to contribute financially in order to make the sale go through," Transport Minister Werner Faymann said.