Govt should not be in any service industry: Ajit Singh on Air India

On a day when more than 150 Air India pilots skipped work by calling in sick, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said that he believes "the time for national carriers is gone" and that the government "cannot and should not run any service industry." However, Mr Singh told NDTV that "even if we want to sell it, first we have to bring it up to that level where someone will be interested in investing in it." He pointed out that closing down the national airline, which has guzzled thousands of crores in bailout packages, would have serious repercussions, including a possible hike in air fares. He also said that Air India has 17% of passenger traffic currently.