Lithuania's national airline suffers 2.6 million euro loss in 2004

Results published Thursday by Lithuania's national airline Lietuvos Avialinijos showed the company suffered 9.04 million litas (2.6 million euros, 3.4 million dollars) in losses last year, despite better sales figures.

Sales of the company grew by 11.6 percent to 222 million litas, the carrier's annual report said.

But rising fuel costs and increased competition nonetheless pushed the carrier into the red.

"Business conditions had changed with Lithuania's membership in the EU offering new possibilities and new challenges," Vidas Zvinys, head of the company, said in a statement.

The Lithuanian government plans to fully privatize Lietuvos Avialinijos, setting the initial bid price at 9.3 million litas . Bids will be accepted on May 4 and 5.

An earlier tender offer for a 34-percent stake in Lietuvos Avialinijos was announced in 2003 but failed after the Scandinavian carrier SAS, the only interested company, pulled out of the process.