Vienna - Besides Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Russian carrier S7 Airlines is also still in the race for taking over Austrian Airlines AG, Austria's state holding OeIAG announced Monday.

Lufthansa was seen as the only remaining bidder for OeIAG's 42.75 -per-cent stake in the ailing flag carrier, but the holding's CEO Peter Michaelis confirmed Monday that S7 was still among the bidders.

Last week, Air France-KLM dropped out of the privatization process, but said it was ready for further talks.

Austrian Airlines is saddled with around 900 million euros (1.14 billion dollars) of debt and expects to end the year with a deficit of 125 million euros. (dpa)