Air India, a brand that fuels emotions and stirs nationalism, is easily one of the most well-known global brands from India. And why not, with a network of over 70 domestic and 40 international destinations, it is an airline with a reach.

Except for the last decade and a half or so, Air India was always regarded as a great airline. This national carrier of India was well known for its service to passengers, with its Maharajah logo being an apt icon. Sadly its sheen faded of late, because of the downslide the airline witnessed – in its finances, market share and services – since the turn of the millennium.

Founded by the legendary JRD Tata in 1932, Air India had for long been India’s showcase to the world and with some hiccups, it continued to perform reasonably well till such time it and its sister domestic airline continued to fly separately. The beginning of the decline coincided with the governmental interference that this commercial enterprise in a highly competitive sector started facing in right earnest. This has been the sad story of the public sector in India.

Regularly cursed for inadequacy in performance, the public sector at large has invariably been the victim of the very same people who curse it in the first place. Excessive interference, a plethora of rules, processes and oversight, and a pervasive environment of fear has dampened initiative and acumen for taking risks – the most crucial traits required for running businesses successfully.

The Air India-Indian Airlines merger, pushed through without fully appreciating the chemistry of mergers and apparently to satiate the English word ‘synergy’, coupled with other decisions forced down the airline’s throat, initiated its downhill slide. The ban on recruitment ensured the absence of fresh blood and ideas and the stress on tendering procedures coupled with over indulgence of vigilance setups that rarely differentiate between mala fide and procedural mistakes, hastened the free fall.

For businesses, one loss making year is enough of a wake-up call to initiate corrective measures. Yet at the national carrier, the debt was allowed to pile up over the years. A turn-around plan that subsequently emerged was by no stretch of imagination such, for it conveniently avoided addressing issues relating to leadership, human resource, processes, delegation and organisational culture, and merely remained confined to equity injection to meet debt service requirements. The plan only helped a sinking ship remain afloat, not ride on the waves.

Despite being more of a railwayman than an aviator, it hurts to witness the descent of an airline that was an iconic one till almost the turn of the millennium. An organisation that acquired one of the finest art collections and that in yesteryear really cared for its men – an aspect easily visible in the adequacy of built and acquired residential quarters – had to be a great one.

Yet along the way the organisation did stray and piled up a mountain of debt. Simultaneously, neither its growth nor administrative processes kept pace with the changing requirements of the 21st century. That despite the serious issues it faced and continues to face the airline still retains its inner strengths – its tremendous reach and operational and technical excellence – says a lot indeed.

It is a harsh reality that governmental systems are ill suited for running commercial organisations in its fold, more so an airline business that is very high on competition, regulation and technology yet has very thin margins that have a propensity to vanish with the slightest flutter in fuel prices.

For many of us Indians, the sight of an Air India aircraft stimulates a feeling of national pride. At airports beyond our shores it gives the feel that home is right there. The only airline with India in its name shall always evoke this feeling regardless of its ownership.