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Austrian Airlines AG, the Austrian unit of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE), said Friday it hopes the Austrian government will intervene on its behalf to help secure an open-ended extension of its Russian landing rights.

After the ownership of Austrian Airlines was transferred from the Austrian state to the airline's larger German peer last year, Russian authorities scrutinized AUA's license to operate flights to and from Russia, a license that is conditional on the airline being Austrian-owned.

In trying to mitigate this problem, Lufthansa carried out the takeover of Austrian Air via a Lufthansa-controlled Austrian holding company, but it is uncertain whether Russia will accept this model.

"We are assuming that this is a political question that also needs to be solved politically," Austrian Air spokesman Michael Braun told Dow Jones Newswires.

Braun said the airline expects to be granted a temporary extension of its license, which will expire with the end of the winter flight plan in March, but also that it will be impossible to negotiate an open-ended extension after this time without the help of the Austrian government.

However, Braun said AUA remains confident that the two countries will be able to reach a common understanding.

-By Kirsten Bienk, Dow Jones Newswires; +43 1 513 69 22 10; kirsten.bienk@dowjones.com(Flemming Emil Hansen in Vienna contributed to this article.)