Olympic bidders list due next week

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's transport minister says a list of potential bidders for the sale of ailing, state-run Olympic Airlines will be announced next week.

Costis Hadzidakis says a deadline of expressions of interest in Olympic expires at midnight Friday. He said the government will examine the bids before announcing the list "at some point next week."

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis already has confirmed Qatar Airways' interest during a recent visit to the Gulf country.

Olympic Airlines has accumulated losses of around 2.7 billion euros ($3.52 billion). Last month, the European Union approved Greece's plan to break up the airline and fully privatize it by the end of 2009. But the EU says Olympic must pay back state subsidies worth 850 million euros ($1.1 billion).

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