Qatar Airlines and Iberia are among more than a dozen investors which have expressed a preliminary interest in buying parts of ailing Greek national carrier Olympic Airlines, state television NET said on Monday.

Citing transport ministry sources, NET said at least 18 candidates including airlines and private funds tabled non-binding declarations of interest in the first phase of an international tender that ended on October 31.

The transport ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

Without naming the candidates, Transport Minister Costis Hatzidakis told reporters the Greek government was satisfied with the investor lineup.

`Of course there is satisfaction. Never in the past, in any process to privatise Olympic, had there been such a preliminary interest,` he said.

The Greek government will study the offers and release the candidate list in the coming days, NET said.

Greece wants to sell the airlines by the end of the year. The bids and selection process will be surveyed by a third-party proxy.

The sale involves three separate parts of the company -- airline services, ground handling and technical maintenance.

The investor or investors chosen will be obliged to keep the name Olympic, the logo and the existing flight slots.

Greek governments have spent years seeking private investors to take over Olympic Airlines, which is crippled with debt, but the process was complicated by the European Commission`s demand that the company repay illegal state aid.

The EU in September gave the green light for Greece`s plans to privatise the airlines, but said 850 million euros (one billion dollars) of illegal state aid must be returned.

The privatisation has divided the company`s employees, many of whom have been offered early retirement packages and state jobs elsewhere.

But the Greek federation of civil aviation unions (OSPA) remains strongly opposed and has staged several protests against the move.