Govt must give up confusion and privatise Air India

Air India drags the entire sector down

Recently, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, when asked about the future of Air India, said the Centre wanted the airline “to survive”, but that it did not matter “who runs it”. He argued that taxpayer money could not sustain the airline forever. These statements, taken together, are both welcome and disheartening. On the one hand, they open the door to a possible future in which the state-controlled airline is perhaps operated, or part-owned, by the private sector. On the other hand, they betray a lack of confidence in the market and inadequate awareness of how the aviation sector, in