January 9 (SeeNews) - Serbia's finance minister Sinisa Mali expects that flag carrier Air Serbia will post a 35 million euro ($38 million) profit for 2023, local media reported.
Air Serbia carried 4.1 million passenger last year, which is the third best annual result for a Serbian flag carrier after JAT Airways reported record-high passenger numbers in 1987 and 1988, Tanjug news agency quoted Mali as saying in an interview over the weekend.
Mali also said that Air Serbia will add two Airbus A330 aircrafts to its fleet by May.
According to earlier media reports, Air Serbia closed the first half of 2023 with a net profit of 22.4 million euro.
The company swung to a net profit of 21 million euro in 2022, from a net loss of 21.3 million euro in 2021.
In 2013, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways signed a deal to acquire a 49% stake in loss-making JAT Airways, a company wholly owned by the Serbian government. Under the strategic partnership agreement, Etihad was granted a five-year contract to run the airline, which it rebranded to Air Serbia in October that year. In November 2023, Serbia regained 100% ownership of its flag carrier.
($ = 0.914 euro)