‘Government should not be running airports & airlines’: Hardeep Singh Puri

Amid the tiff between the Centre and the Kerala government over privatisation of airports, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has come out strongly in support of the move. Speaking at a virtual event on the NaMo app, the minister said that governments should not be running airlines and airports. The minister also made a strong pitch for privatisation of Air India and said that he was hopeful it would be achieved this year itself. The Central government extended by two months the deadline for placing bids for Air India till October 30 as the COVID-19 fallout has disrupted economic activity globally. This is the fourth extension given by the governments to place bids for Air India. The minister lauded Air India and said that the airline has a very good record. Puri added that steps to privatise airports and airlines would ensure that air fares come down and people who now travel by trains would prefer to travel by air. Watch the full video for all the details.