In November of last year, when Serbia became the sole owner of Air Serbia, it paid around 17.4 million euros. That was also the cost for Serbia to buy out Etihad Airways' stake in the national airline. To become the 100% owner flag carrier, Serbia purchased the remaining 16.42% of shares from Etihad Airways. This was confirmed by state auditors.

On November 13, 2023, when the national airline marked its 10th anniversary, it was announced that the airline would now be entirely owned by Serbia. Since then, it hasn’t been publicly disclosed how much the state paid for the remaining 16.42% stake in Air Serbia, nor is this information available in the airline’s publicly released financial reports.

The 17.4 million euros paid last year for 3.3 million shares of Air Serbia is lower than the capital infusion that took place in 2022. At that time, the state increased its ownership stake in the national carrier by contributing 15.47 million euros. This increased Serbia’s ownership of the company to 83.58%, while Etihad’s share automatically decreased from 18.03% to 16.42%.

The possibility that Air Serbia would return to full state ownership became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when, in 2020, Serbia began repaying loans and recapitalizing the airline. The first recapitalization of Air Serbia, in December 2020, involved an injection of 100 million euros. By the end of 2020, Serbia had increased its ownership from 51% to 81.97%, while Etihad’s share dropped from 49% to 18.03%.

The recapitalization, as announced at the time by Air Serbia, was carried out based on an agreement between the Ministry of Economy and Air Serbia, at the request of the national carrier, and in accordance with a regulation from October 2020. That regulation allowed companies affected by the pandemic to receive financial assistance from the state, with the state receiving a share in their ownership in return. This type of assistance, through recapitalization, was intended for both private and state-owned enterprises, but it was initially estimated that it was specifically designed for Air Serbia. At the time, the Fiscal Council estimated that the state had earmarked around 200 million euros for Air Serbia.

Subsequently, in June 2022, the Serbian government adopted a new decision to “accept the Report on the assessment of damage and actual loss suffered by Air Serbia due to the COVID-19 pandemic from March 19, 2020, to December 31, 2021.” At that time, the government agreed to make an additional investment of 15.47 million euros, on top of the 100 million euros invested in December 2020. Etihad, as a minority shareholder, did not have the right of first refusal to purchase these shares „due to Etihad Airways’ established current inability to participate in the necessary recapitalization of Air Serbia.“

Air Serbia, like all airlines worldwide, suffered losses during the pandemic. In 2020, the company’s loss was slightly over 5 billion dinars, and in 2021, the deficit in Air Serbia’s finances was 2 billion dinars. Before the pandemic, in 2019, Air Serbia operated with a profit.

Last year, in 2023, Air Serbia ended with a profit of 4.76 billion dinars, which was 89% more than in 2022, when it also said it achieved a profit of 2.5 billion dinars.