 Capt. G.R Gopinath
A former army officer and an award winning Seri culturist, Capt G.R Gopinath, made his foray in the aviation sector way back in 1995; at a time when domestic aviation was largely monopolized and strict government regulations were the norm. He identified the potential which the helicopter charter business had in India.
With his entrepreneurial skills coupled with the technical skills of his ex-army friends, he launched ‘Deccan Aviation’ – a dedicated, customer focused heli-charter Company. Today, The Company is now India’s largest and most reputed private air charter company including Sri Lanka.
At the cusp of the new millennium; the idea of a low cost airline came to Capt. Gopi one day while flying from Bangalore to Goa. With rising incomes and increased spending power of Indians, affordable and reliable air travel too has the potential to acquire a mass consumption base
Capt. Gopinath however was not interested in building another Delhi – Mumbai airline; instead he wanted to harness the potential of a billion consumers including those who live in towns like Kolhapur, Gwalior or Belgaum. The result was Air Deccan, India’s first low cost, no frill airline, which was launched on the strength of a simple dream. A dream inspired by just one statement. “I want every Indian to fly at least once in his/ her lifetime.”
Beginning with a modest four flights a day, AIR DECCAN in 2007 flew more than 350 flights daily connecting 65 destinations including hitherto unconnected sectors, across the country. Air Deccan has flown over 11.5 million people since inception. The airline had emerged as the largest people’s carrier in a span of 4 years, overtaking the national carrier operating for 55 years. In 2008 he handed over the running of the Airline to Dr. Vijay Mallya , the airline has now been merged with Kingfisher and operates under the brand name – Kingfisher Red.
Today Captain Gopinath is focusing on Deccan Charters and has forayed into the Cargo and Express Logistics business. Captain Gopinath aims to be India’s leading express transportation and logistics company with a focus on delivering superior customer experience. He wants to ensure that Express logistics is available deep in the smaller cities of India and is not the domain of the Metros alone.
Deccan Express Logistics will be the first Indian company to create a hub and spoke distribution model in the express industry in India connecting not only the metro cities but also the Tier-I & Tier-II cities to India’s trade network. Once operational Deccan Express Logistics’ air & surface network will offer unmatched next day connectivity to more than 85% of the Indian GDP and will offer higher capacity and twice the reach than any other express transportation & logistics company in the country.Capt. Gorur R Iyengar Gopinath was born in a remote village of Gorur in Karnataka. He first studied at the local village school thereafter at the Sainik School in Bijapur. He went on to graduate from India’s most respected military establishments The National Defense Academy at Pune and the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. Soon after completion of training, his first assignment was the 1971 Bangladesh War. Ever restless, he left the Army after 8 years of service to seek newer vistas.
Strong willed as he is, he took to farming and in a few years he went on to become a successful Seri culturist in Karnataka which won him the “Rolex International Award” for Enterprise in 1996, for his seeking to break new ground with the project ‘Ecological Silk Farming to Improve Living Standards’. The same year he was listed by Outlook magazine as one of the 50 Indians who would rise from obscurity to fame in the coming decade. In May 2006 he was knighted with “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur” the highest civilian award conferred by the French Government. He has received many awards for Air Deccan.
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