I recently wrote about the horrifying experience of 180-odd passengers bound for Bengaluru from Delhi on an Air India flight on the night of Delhi’s unexpected dust storm that threw schedules into disarray. The flight in question remained attached to the aerobridge and on the tarmac for 10 hours, a nightmarish experience. Many readers expressed horror and some in the government declared, as they are apt to do, that Air India was better managed under their control — a refrain that reeks of bureaucratic insecurity and seems to have stuck since the Tatas took charge of the airline in January 2022.

I also received at least five messages from readers on the airline’s improved services on both domestic and international routes. Although in dribbles rather than a flood, many reports of the airline’s improvements on both in-flight service standards, including food quality, and on-time performance are coming in, albeit mostly with respect to the newer-leased planes.

Almost universally, the reports are positive on the airline’s in-flight cabin crew and their handling of passengers and situations. Given the airline’s losses have fallen (as per recent reports), I beg to differ with those who argue that the government was managing the airline better than the Tatas.

The we-did-it-better brigade also conveniently forgets the fact that under government control, you and I were footing the bill for the airline’s inefficiencies and inability to compete,........

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