Rome - The last two unions- both representing Alitalia flight attendants - on Monday finally joined other representatives of the financially troubled airline's workers in agreeing to a private consortium's takeover offer.

The decision by the SDL and AVIA unions to adhere to the CAI consortium's buyout plan ended more than two weeks of tortious talks.

Their failure would have seen the demise of Alitalia and would have represented a serious embarrassment to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government.

Instead Monday an ebullient Berlusconi declared the clinching of a deal a personal victory.

"All's well that ends well," Berlusconi was quoted as saying by the ANSA newsagency.

Last Thursday the country's main labour confederation CGIL agreed to the plan and on Saturday unions representing Alitalia's pilots followed suit.

Berlusconi said that he personally played a part in ensuring the unions approval of CAI, whose bid he has sponsored as a means to "keep Alitalia in Italian hands."

"I was not only 'spiritually' present during the talks, but also physically in the sense that I was always in direct communication with the venues in which they were being held," Berlusconi said.

Following Monday's agreement, attention began to shift to the possible international alliances analysts say CAI must secure to ensure Alitalia can continue to operate international, long-haul flights in the highly competitive air transport sector.

German airline Lufthansa and French-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM have both expressed an interest in holding a minority share in Alitalia once CAI relieves the state's controlling stake.

Berlusconi's conservative government's favours Lufthansa as it is more likely to retain the use of Milan's Malpensa airport as hub alongside Rome's Fiumicino where Alitalia's operations are currently centred, many analysts say.

But on Monday, Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi denied any favouritism on the part of the government insisting potential partners "are all on the same level" and that the any decision on a future alliance would be taken by CAI.

CAI's takeover plan could still face scrutiny from European Union regulators over whether it has run foul of the bloc's market competition rules by benefiting from unfair government assistance.

Alitalia, once a symbol of Italy's post-World War II economic boom, was estimated to be losing about 2 million euros (2.92 million dollars) a day. (dpa)