Air France and Aeroflot may be interested in Austrian Airlines

Air France and Russia’s Aeroflot are both reported as being keenly interested in developments at Austrian Airlines, where the government’s shares are likely to be sold to the private sector in the near future. According to Format magazine, Air France and Aeroflot may each purchase a stake in the Central European carrier if they do go up for sale in the coming months. Valery Okulov, Aeroflot’s chief executive, told journalists that his airline would be “studying the situation,” adding that his company already has a significant amount of experience when it comes to restructuring airlines. As such, Okulov implied that Aeroflot may know what actions would be necessary in order to turn Austrian’s sagging fortunes around.

Jean Cyril Spinetta, Air France-KLM’s chief executive, essentially echoed Aeroflot’s sentiments, noting that his carrier was also “observing developments” at Austrian Airlines, but quickly added that it is still “too early to talk about it,” since everyone is “just waiting” at the moment to see what the Austrian government may choose to do with its shares.

Austrian Airlines has been faced with several difficult challenges over the course of the past few months. The carrier posted sharp losses during the first quarter of the year and shortly after, a wealthy Saudi sheik decided to pull his offer of investing in the carrier. As such, Austrian must now find other ways of raising the necessary funds to develop and stay competitive.

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