Air France-KLM chairman and CEO Jean Cyril Spinetta resigned from the Alitalia board on January 17, sending flutters through financial circles where his airline is seen as a possible bidder for the Italian one.

Air France-KLM issued a statement saying its president could not remain on the Alitalia board after the Italian Treasury recently said it wants to sell a controlling stake in the airline.

Spinetta joined the board in 2002 after Air France acquired a 2 percent interest in the Italian carrier.

The French-Dutch group, which has a commercial partnership with Alitalia, has been talked about as a possible bidder for the troubled airline but it has yet to make any announcement on the matter.

Some observers believe that Air France-KLM will present an offer in order to compete against a possible bid by rival Lufthansa of Germany.

Alitalia shares surged as high as 3.86 percent in morning trading in Milan amid speculation of an offer. Shares later retreated but were still up over 2.3 percent in the afternoon.

Paolo Brutti, the head of the Senate's public works committee, observed that Spinetta's move could be a bid to avoid a conflict of interest in view of a possible offer to buy Alitalia.

The Italian government decided at the end of last year to sell no less than 30.1 percent of Alitalia and is accepting initial offers until Jan. 29.

The Treasury has hinted that it may sell all of the state's 49.9 percent stake in the airline under the right conditions.

So far only Italian businessman Paolo Alazraki has already met unions to illustrate his master plan to acquire and rescue Italy's national carrier, which could carry a price tag as high as five billion euros.

Spinetta's departure, the second from the Alitalia board in a week, leaves the group with only two members and means a board meeting planned for January 19 to look at accounts can no longer go ahead.

It also means that the company could be placed in the hands of a state-appointed administrator.

The remaining board members are President and CEO Giancarlo Cimoli and Treasury representative Giovanni Sabbatini.

Recognizing the board's predicament, Alitalia unions called off a strike scheduled for January 19, but said their concerns over the airline's uncertain future had only been intensified.

Unionists said the situation required rapid action by Treasury Minister Tommaso Padoa Schioppa.

Sources close to Alitalia said a shareholders meeting would be held sometime between Feb. 19 and 23 to elect a new board.