mumbai air india chief ashwani lohani on wednesday said the national carriers legacy will remain intact even if the ownership changes handsafter inaugurating a fiveday exhibition which is being organised by the society for culture and environment and supported by the divestmentbound air india to showcase the vast cultural heritage of the airline built over the years an emotional lohani told reporters that the airline is still a great organisationi have come from the railways these people have worked in this company for so many years i have become emotional after seeing the exhibits i can only imagine what they must be feeling he said hinting at the ongoing privatisation bid of the heavily lossmaking airline started by the late jrd tatalohani said the airline has an unmatched legacy that will be carried forward even if it changes the ownershipas an organisation air india is very strong and great even today despite all odds we are carrying out our operations efficiently air india has always been there when the country needed it it was only air india that could bring back the stranded indians from the novel coronavirushit wuhan in china he addedif there is any specific reason behind holding such an exhibition at a time when privatization talks are progressing he said it has nothing to do with the exhibition meera das who is the secretary of the society for culture and environment approached us with the idea and we decided to support themhaving failed to get any bids last year the government has allowed 100 per cent sale of its equity in the airline to any private party including full ownership to nris as it seeks to exit the loss making airline second time in a rowthe airline is sitting over rs 23000 crore of debt after the larger portion of the total debt of close to rs 60000 crore was transferred to a newlycreated holding company to facilitate the sale process most of the debt is aircraft purchaserelatedthe financial trouble of the flag carrier began when in 200708 the government had merged the lossmaking indian airlines which was into domestic operations with air india the international wing since then the airline has not made a single penny in profit the exhibition has put on display the national carriers vast collection of paintings sculptures and traditional wooden and bronze artworks along with the memorabilia inflight menus posters statues the giveaways of modeled on the iconic maharajah mascotabout the plans mooted by the airline to set up a museum to preserve its collections lohani said we had floated such a proposal four years ago but we are no longer going to do it instead we are now talking with the union culture ministry to hand over these collections to showcase them in the national gallery of modern art in various metros we hope it will happen soon