Of late, the public sector carrier Air India (AI) has been in the news for the wrong reasons from flight cancellations to staff strikes to debt problems to bailout with taxpayers' money. Finally, the government has acknowledged the failure of the merger of AI and Indian Airlines that took place in August 2007. It is worth noting that till financial year 2006-07, both the airlines were making profits. However, as today's chart of the day shows, the combined entity has been incurring massive losses over several years in a row.

Data source: The Times of India *Figures have been summed up for Air India and Indian Airlines from FY05 to FY07. Figures from FY08 to FY12 pertain to the merged entity. #provisional figure