The only aircraft that had been owned outright by the now-defunct national carrier Cyprus Airways (CY), has been sold for €2.5m, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said on Tuesday.

Speaking during a meeting of the House Watchdog committee, Georgiades said CY had gone into liquidation and his ministry was not involved in the process.

The state-owned airline entered voluntary liquidation on January 9, 2015 after the EU Commission ruled that it should return €103 million in state aid it had received since 2012, breaching EU rules.

As regards compensation for the company’s former employees, Georgiades said with the exception of six people who refused to sign an accompanying form stating that they surrendered any other benefits and agreed not to push for other claims in court, everyone else submitted the relevant form and received their compensation.

The state had set aside some €15m to compensate CY workers. This covers the deficit in the company’s provident fund, bonus compensation, termination benefits and holiday dues.

Several former employees had initially refused to claim the compensation because the government had asked everyone to sign the specific form, but reconsidered after they were told the compensation money was only available up to late last year. Beyond that date, the money would be lost.

Last month, Cyprus launched an invitation for an expression of interest (EOI) in the exclusive license to use/exploit the logos and trademarks of CY. The use of the CY logos and trademarks concerns the operation of a flights schedule to and from Cyprus.

The Cyprus Privatisations Unit on June 2015 launched a process to determine interest in the transaction, with the government reserving the right to execute a formal process. The government decided to go ahead with the official process, estimating that investors would submit expression of interest in case of an official open tender. Under the tender terms, interested parties must submit their EOI by February 9.