Air France-KLM has pulled out of talks to take over Czech Airlines (CSA) citing the current economic downturn. “The current economic environment has significantly impacted the airline business. Under such circumstances, Air France-KLM believes that CSA might focus on developing and implementing a stand-alone recovery plan aimed at restoring its profitability,” AF-KLM said. The ailing state-owned carrier is up for privatisation and AF-KLM’s withdrawal from talks leaves only one bidder for a 91.5 per cent stake in CSA – a Czech-Icelandic consortium made up of Travel Service and Unimex. AF KLM said that it wishes to strengthen its existing partnership further with CSA (both are SkyTeam members) and to continue to explore any new areas of cooperation that “could be of mutual benefit.”