Greece's Marfin Investment will buy Olympic Airways' ground handling unit, days after it sealed the sale of the carrier's flying and maintenance operations to the firm.

Greece approved the sale of ailing Olympic's flying and technical base operations to Marfin Investment Group (MIG) on Wednesday, ending years of wrangling with Brussels and a major drain on its troubled budget.

The sale has also the approval of the European Commission, which said the deal did not breach EU competition rules.

"The Greek state's advisors and MIG begin discussions immediately to finalize the deal for the sale of the ground handling assets to MIG," Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis said in a statement.

Swissport, a subsidiary of Spain's Ferrovial, had also bid for the ground handling operation but failed to reach a deal before a set deadline which expired on Friday.

MIG, whose main shareholder is Dubai Financial, emerged as a last minute rescuer for Olympic after Greece's attempt to attract a good offer from a major European carrier failed in December.

The firm will pay EUR44.8 million euros (USD$57.66 million) for Olympic's ground handling, with the total cost for buying the whole carrier coming at EUR107.2 million.