China Southern Airlines is reportedlyin talks with other foreign carriersbesides Air France-KLM for an aircargo joint venture, Reuters reportedquoting the airline’s chief financialofficer, Xu Jiebo.

Xu said Air France was neither apreferred partner nor an exclusive foreigncounterpart for the establishmentof its cargo venture whose launch hasalready been delayed due to problemsin talks with Air France.

"We hope to launch the joint ventureas soon as we can, but so far the talksare not going very smoothly," Xu said on the sidelines of a news conferenceadding that China Southern was not intalks with Lufthansa.

Analysts point out that Xu’s statementsare probably part of an attemptby China Southern to force the Sky-Team Cargo alliance to relax the entryrules that the alliance has set for newentrants. They add that China Southernhas found it difficult to fully meet allstandards set by SkyTeam Cargo.