Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport anticipates for the new concessionaire to take over its running on August 1, 2018. It comes following several delays in the completion of the second and final phase of the concession process, which has now been scheduled for December 8, after which the public body evaluating the bids will have a further thirty days to make their decision known. Belgrade Airport noted that, "For the avoidance of doubt, the selected best bidder (or the second ranked bidder) will not be entitled to adjust the terms of its financial offer if the actual concession commencement date differs from the assumed commencement date". Following the selection of the winning bid, the state will initiate talks with the concessionaire to navigate the financial closure of the 25-year deal.

Despite delays in the second phase of bidding, all participating parties have now submitted the final draft of the concession agreement, while their binding offers are due in just over two weeks time. In transcripts between the bidders and the public body, it is evident that the participants are still formulating their final bids since a number of questions and clarifications concerning financing, commitment letters and administrative procedures have been requested. However, the Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, believes that the latest deadline extension will be the final one. She previously noted that a deal with the future concessionaire should be completed in March 2018. "The final deadline is March, which means that everything related to the concession, including all paperwork and administrative procedures, should be completed then".

The Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, said last week that he anticipates for the concession fee to amount to some 500 million euros, which is double the initial estimate. The President noted that the offers submitted during the first phase of bidding exceeded expectations by some 15% to 20%, adding that these cannot be lowered during the second phase. The future concessionaire will be responsible for the airport’s long-term development strategy including management, maintenance, financing and capacity expansion. The five entities taking part in the process include the Franco-Swiss consortium comprised of Zurich Airport, Meridiam and Eiffage, a consortium made up of India's GMR Infrastructure and Greece's GEK Terma, a consortium comprising of South Korea's Incheon International Airport Corporation, Turkey's Ic Ictas Altypi and Russia's VTB Capital, a stand-alone bid by Vinci, and a Chinese consortium made up of HNA Airport Group, AVIC International Holding Corporation and the China-Central and Eastern Europe Investment Cooperation Fund.

Belgrade Airport reported a 22.7 million euro net profit during the first three quarters of the year, up 14.4% on the same period in 2016. Operating income rose 15.4% to 28.3 million euros, while operating expenses increased 6.6% to 32 million euros. The airport anticipates welcoming its fifth-millionth passenger of the year early next month. Shares in the company peaked last week to historic levels, with the airport's share price gaining 26.9% in value on the Belgrade Stock Exchange over the past year.