Czech Airlines (CSA), slated for eventual privatisation by the government, has not entered into talks with other carriers, company president Radomir Lasak said in a brief statement on October 23 following a media report that CSA had been in talks with several prospective bidders.

"As repeatedly stated, (CSA's eventual) privatisation is a matter for the owners to decide, and not for the management," Interfax quoted Lasak as saying.

Lasak categorically denied a report earlier on October 23 by news agency Thomson Financial, citing a source close to the privatisation process, that CSA had been talking to Russia's Aeroflot, CSA "SkyTeam" alliance partners Air France-KLM, Korean Air and several Russian financial investors about a possible bid.

"The task of the management is to get Czech Airlines in a financial state so that (it) is ready for privatisation," Lasak said, referring to the carrier's heavy losses in recent years. "My team has been working on that for already a year and a half. (Recent financial) results demonstrate it has been successful."

CSA expects to post a profit of 42 million Czech crowns for full 2007. For the first seven months of the year, CSA posted a profit of 182 million crowns. In September, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's (Civic Democrats, ODS) government asked the transport minister to draw up by March 2008 more detailed plans for the privatisation of CSA and Letiste Praha, the operator of Prague's international Ruzyne airport.

In 2006, CSA posted an after-tax loss of 396.9 million crowns - 100 million crowns less than in 2005. CSA carried nearly 2.5 million passengers in the first half of 2007, a growth of 1.1 percent year-on-year.