A deadline for unions to accept a rescue takeover of troubled Italian airline Alitalia has passed without any official announcement being made.
The business consortium proposing to rescue Italian airline Alitalia has withdrawn its offer in the face of union opposition.
The CAI business consortium had told union leaders to accept the deal by 1400 GMT on Thursday, or else it would walk away from the table.
The CAI consortium had given the nine unions until 1400GMT to accept the deal, but not all of the unions were in agreement.
Italy's four main unions have accepted the deal, but five others have so far refused due to its proposed job cuts.
Five of the unions had said they were opposed to the CAI offer because it proposed 3,000 job cuts.
The deal includes longer working hours and the loss of 3,000 positions.
There are now fears Alitalia could go into administration.
Italian Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi said before the deadline that the future of Alitalia was "hanging by a thread".
It has already warned that it is running out of funds to buy aviation fuel.
Cancelled flights
Union protests forced Alitalia, which is losing 2.1m euros ($3m; £1.7m) daily, to cancel 40 flights on Wednesday.
The carrier, which is operating under a bankruptcy commissioner, faces liquidation if a deal is not reached.
The airline says it is running out of money to buy aviation fuel.
Under the rescue proposal, the Italian consortium has put forward a 1bn-euro offer for the airline.
Alitalia would merge with Air One, the country's second-largest airline, and its 1.2bn-euro debt would be absorbed by a second firm, which would then be liquidated.
Disgruntled pilots
While Italy's four main union organisations - CGIL, CISL, UIL and UGL - have already signed up to the agreement with the CAI consortium, five other unions have rejected the deal as "useless and provocative".
The new Alitalia would employ about 12,500 people
Those opposed to the package - SDL, ANPAC, UP, ANPAV and Avia - include pilots and cabin crews.
The new Alitalia would employ about 12,500 people including 1,500 pilots, 3,300 cabin staff and 7,650 technicians, workers and managerial staff, Italy's Ansa news agency reported.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to do all he can to save Alitalia, in which the Italian government holds a 49.9% stake.
In April, plans for the airline to be bought by Air France-KLM collapsed.
Alitalia suspended trading in its shares in June and filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
