A few weeks ago the Italian Government would have settled for just about anyone relieving it of its 49.9% stake in the chronically loss-making national carrier Alitalia.
Much no doubt to both its relief and surprise, it has two plausible suitors. The unexpected dilemma now facing Romano Prodi's centre left government is which one to choose.
What to do about Alitalia has been a nagging problem for successive Italian governments. While bankruptcy has been and still is a last ditch option, the favoured one has been to persuade a profitable airline to take it on. Regular attempts have been made over the last year or so to cajole, entice or inveigle an airline to do so but without success.
But there has always been Air France KLM waiting in the wings, seemingly judging its moment to pounce. A tie up between AF and Alitalia seems a natural thing. Both belong to the same SkyTeam Alliance and they worked closely together for many years. Additionally, AF, after its successful merger with KLM, knows exactly how to handle these things.
But the French carrier has played hard to get long enough for a potential rival to emerge.
This is Air One, run by the entrepreneur Carlo Toti. Since being rejected as a pilot by Alitalia, Mr Toti seems to have set out to prove he can run the better airline. He established Air One in 1995 with a Rome-Milan service which broke Alitalia's monopoly on this busy and lucrative route.
Air One now serves 23 Italian destinations and eight other cities in Europe and has 33% of the Italian market. Next year, it plans to start long haul service but no details have yet been announced.
More crucially - and this is the choice facing Romano Prodi - is that Mr Toti sees Alitalia's future in a very different light to Cyril-Jean Spinetta, chairman and ceo of AF KLM.
Like the directors of Caja Madrid who scuppered BA's planned friendly take over of Iberia because they wanted the airline to say in Spanish hands, Mr Toti wants Alitalia to stay in Italian hands.
The nationalist card is invariably a strong one to play and Mr Toti is no doubt counting on support from those equally concerned that Alitalia might end up in the clutches of the French and Dutch.
But the differences do no tend there. Air France's beguiling invitation to Alitalia to join "the world's leading transport group" also hinted that there would likely be some ruthless scaling down of Italian carrier's operation.
AF KLM talked of a development plan which was in line with the one already put up by the Alitalia directors. This envisaged scaling down Alitalia's operations in Milan and focusing on Rome. This would inevitably mean the scrapping of some unprofitable routes and the loss of jobs – something the feisty Italian unions are unlikely to accept meekly.
Mr Toti's vision is much grander. He is quoted as dismissing the AF KLM plan as one that will reduce Alitalia to a "simple regional carrier feeding a foreign hub." Instead he said he regarded Alitalia as a “strategic asset” adding: "I am deeply convinced that our country has the right and the duty to protect its national airline."
He seems to be saying that Alitalia and Air One can be built up into a majr European carrier to rival AF KLM, BA and Lufthansa.
AF KLM seems to have won the backing of Maurizio Prato, chairman of the Alitalia board. He was quoted in the weekend edition of Corriere della Sera as saying that the AF KLM plan was based on Alitalia's rescue plan. He added, in case there was any doubt, that Alitalia still needed to understand how the plan Air One would work.
But Mr Toti can point to the backing of Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, head of Confindustria, the Italian employers' association while his financial team includes Intesa Sanpaolo, an Italian bank, Nomura, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. This is a seriously strong team.
But the real decision lies with the Prodi government which make its views clear to the directrso whenthe y meet today (December 13). It is not going to be an easy decision. The head says AF KLM but the Italian heart might say Air One. Whichever way Mr Prodi goes, he is going to be critcised. But what he doesn't want is a decision that comes back to haunt him. He wants Alitalia off his hands. The real battle for the airline may have only just begun.