The Russian airline Aeroflot has made the most concrete offer to acquire Serbia's national airline JAT Airways, Serbian Infrastructure Minister Velimir Ilic said on Friday.

"We received an interesting proposal and we are pleased that it comes from a Russian company," Ilic said in an interview with the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

"They offered to keep all JAT's employees, settle the debts of the company, buy new aircrafts so that JAT will reemerge and operate as one of the major companies in Southeast Europe," Ilic said

He revealed that a number of other interested buyers have made offers and the Serbian government will decide if Aeroflot can be a full owner or hold only a portion of JAT's stock.

Ilic admitted that privatization would be the best solution for JAT since the company itself cannot afford new planes. He said that the government should decide on the terms of JAT's privatization by the end of June.

Source: Xinhua