Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri's recent statement in Rajya Sabha that Air India will have to be closed down if not privatised is "highly damaging" and will have "massive financial implications" for the national carrier, an employees' union said on Thursday.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Aviation Industry Employees' Guild said "Coming from the civil aviation minister...this statement is highly damaging, uncalled for at this stage and has massive financial implications for Air India, as our passengers will start cancelling their flight bookings and/or prospective passengers refrain from booking seats on AI flights from March 2020 or even before."

"Considering the tremendous repercussions the statement may have, it would be in the interest of Air India to prevail upon the Honourable Minister not only to withdraw the statement made by him but also to refrain from making any such irresponsible statements in future," the letter said.

First Published:Nov 29, 2019 12:26 PM IST