TIMELINE - Alitalia's failed sale process

(Reuters) - A group of Italian businessmen who had offered to buy Alitalia withdrew its bid on Thursday in the face of union hostility, raising the prospect of the airline's failure.

A timeline of Alitalia's faltering sale process follows:

INITIAL AUCTION

The previous centre-left government announced it was putting its Alitalia stake up for sale in late December 2006.

Rome owns 49.9 percent of the carrier and sought bids for at least 39.9 percent of the company, which would automatically trigger a full bid under Italian takeover law.

There were 11 bidders initially, but the auction collapsed in July 2007 as the number shrank gradually, until the only remaining bidder -- smaller rival Air One -- also pulled out.

SECOND TRY

Alitalia then drew up its own list of six potential partners to pursue, and Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM and Air One put in non-binding bids to buy the carrier.

Italy's then centre-left government overlooked massive lobbying by unions and regional politicians to pick Air France-KLM for exclusive talks.