Air France-KLM did not make a preliminary bid to acquire Italy's loss-making flagship airline Alitalia, while Management and Capitali (M and C), the Italian bank Unicredit and nine other firms put in feelers.

Air France-KLM, Europe's largest airline, "decided not to propose its candidacy ... not meeting the conditions as of today," Alitalia said in a statement after the close of preliminary bidding on the struggling carrier.

"Air France-KLM intends to continue to develop the partnership with Alitalia within the SkyTeam alliance and in industrial and commercial cooperation begun between the two companies at the end of 2001," Alitalia said.

M and C, a fund created by industrialist Carlo de Benedetti which specialises in turning failing companies around, said it had lodged a preliminary bid "in order to obtain more information to pursue its evaluation" of an eventual firm offer.

Other nibbles came from private investment firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG), the founder of the Italian airline Air One, Carlo Toto, the Cerberus investment fund and Terra Firma Investments, according to the economy ministry.

Italian businessman Alcide Leali, founder of the Italian airline Air Dolomiti, is also in the possible running to acquire Alitalia, which was 380 million euros (490 million dollars) in the red last year.

The Italian government, which controls 49.9 percent of the company, is selling a stake worth at least 30.1 percent in order to trigger an automatic bid for the rest of the company under Italian law.

Alitalia's share price rose 1.67 on Monday to close at 1.093 euros ahead of the announcement.

"Expressions of interest" received Monday still leave room for a later candidacy since any consortium can open itself to new partners before bids are firmed up.

The process is set to last six months, according to the economy ministry.

Press reports speculated that Air France-KLM might join the fray later if a rival such as Lufthansa threw its hat in the ring.

Air One is a Lufthansa partner.

The dire state of Alitalia's finances was apparent in Sunday's revelation of 2006 losses in a report to the stock exchange authority Consob. A year ago, the company had projected that it would break even by now.

Consob requested the report after Alitalia was forced to cancel a board meeting on January 19 because of the resignation of Air France-KLM chief Jean-Cyril Spinetta, effectively dissolving the panel.

The cost of taking over Alitalia is estimated at about 1.5 billion euros, its current stock market capitalisation, plus the cost of renewing its ageing fleet of 183 aircraft and assuming its debt of about one billion euros.

In the invitation to tender, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's center-left government set numerous conditions, including that the company maintain its brand and national identity, the cities the airline serves and the size of its work force.

The main liability is the lack of room for maneuver in restructuring the carrier in the face of strong unions ever prepared to stage crippling strikes.

Prodi, speaking to reporters during a visit to Ethiopia on Monday, said: "I'm optimistic because we launched an appeal for bids that was extremely clear and transparent. I hope the expressions of interest will convert into concrete offers."

Asked to comment on the 2006 loss figure, he said: "I won't comment on the results; the numbers speak for themselves."

Alitalia said it had enough liquidity to survive "more than 12 months" but confirmed Sunday that it could no longer achieve the targets it set in late 2005 under a plan that enabled the company to obtain one billion euros in new capital.