Qatar Airways is also not interested in buying Air India in an upcoming government sales process, the airline’s chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday.

Akbar Al Baker was speaking at a function to announce the launch of flights from Doha to the Malaysian island of Langkawi from October.

Al Baker’s comments come as the Indian government is making a fresh attempt to sell stake or even completely exit Air India.

The government failed last year in its attempt to sell a 76 percent stake in Air India due to a lack of interest from bidders who said they found some of the stake sale terms too onerous, making it a non-starter. It is now redrawing the stake sale plans and as part of the effort it has hived off some of the loss-making airline's debt of $8.5 billion.

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The government may now consider selling up to a 100 percent stake in the airline, a government official told Reuters in July, adding that it expects to get 150 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) from selling the airline.

Al Baker had previously told The Economic Times that his airline would be interested in Air India only if it comes without the ‘baggage’. He was not referring to airline’s debt but functions such as ground handling, engineering etc, he told the newspaper.

The government has for years propped up the debt-laden airline by infusing equity to keep it alive.