New Delhi: A parliamentary committee Friday called the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines a "marriage of incompatible individuals" and said the two aviation companies should work separately, though under a common holding company.

The Committee on Public Undertakings presented in the Lok Sabha its report on the National Aviation Company of India (NACIL)— the merged entity of the erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines. It was tasked to find "the root cause of malaises and propose ways for revival of the PSUs".

"The so-called merger was an ill-conceived and erroneous decision neither arrived at by the two airlines on their own accord nor mutually considered by them to be in their best interests," Committee Chairman V Kishore Chandra Deo said. Deo said the NACIL was "slipping into an abyss", reports IANS.

The committee has recommended that NACIL should be made a holding company with two separate wings — "NACIL Indian Airlines with its headquarters at Delhi and NACIL-Air India with its headquarters at Mumbai, each headed by a Managing Director".

The managing directors should report to Chairman, NACIL. "It needs to be immediately worked out," the committee suggested.