Deccan Aviation Bangalore

Deccan Aviation, co-founded by Capt Gopinath with Capt K. J. Samuel in 1997 revolutionised travel by helicopter. Based in Bangalore with offices across the country, it is India’s leading air charter operator. It provides customised air charter solutions to corporate head honchos, political luminaries and the glitterati. With a fleet of 11 helicopters and three fixed wing aircrafts and growing, it also serves the sectors of tourism, medical evacuation, banner towing and aerial reconnaissance.

Gopi, as he is universally known, made his foray into the sector at a time when domestic aviation was monopolised by a handful of Full Service Airlines (FSA) and strict government regulations were the norm. His background is interesting; a graduate of the prestigious National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, he served as a commissioned officer in the Indian Army for eight years.

After this he took to farming and sericulture and received the ROLEX Award for Ecological Site Farming in 1996.

In the early 1990s, he came across a news report about a Vietnam-born French pilot using helicopters to help foreign investors travel all over Vietnam. This made him think about the abysmal lack of helicopter services in India and the potential of the enterprise.

Combining his entrepreneurial verve and vision with the technical skills of his ex-army friends, he launched Deccan Aviation, a dedicated customer focused heli-charter company along with Capt K. J. Samuel. They were later joined by Col Jayanth Poovaiah and Capt Vishnu Rawal. The company’s pilots are from the cream of Army Aviation, IAF and Navy, each with over 4000 hours of flying experience in varied terrain.

At the cusp of the new millennium, he launched India’s first ‘low cost, no frill’ airline on the strength of a simple dream and an evocative statement, “I want every Indian to fly at least once in his or her lifetime”.

Flying high: Capt G.R. Gopinath 

With India being no longer a country of a billion hungry people to be fed on subsidies, but a country of a billion consumers, Air Deccan put air travel within the reach of millions of Indians. Launched in August 2003 with one aircraft and four flights a day, it became the country’s largest people carrier within four years.

“Aviation had remained outside the reach of most people. Rising incomes, especially of the middle class, gave me the idea that affordable air travel had the potential to acquire a mass consumption base, especially if we could touch small towns,” recalls Gopinath.

Deccan was India’s first airline to establish a fully web-based reservation system and issue e-tickets backed by a 24 hour multilingual call centre. It built an unprecedented network of 7000 distribution outlets ranging from internet cafes to petrol bunks, travel partners and convenience stores to post offices.

Deccan’s merger with Kingfisher Airlines in 2007 has created the single largest airline in the Indian aviation industry, connecting 69 destinations and operating over 570 flights daily with a fleet of 78 aircraft. While Kingfisher serves the luxury segment, Deccan caters to the broadest spectrum of travellers in India and offers value-added services at the most competitive fares. the change I wish to see. Poor and unreliable logistics is a nightmare for industries. My new company will integrate rural India with medium and large towns by providing seamless integrated logistics and air cargo services”.

Even as he carries a full workload as the Executive Chairman of Deccan Aviation, Gopinath has spent the last year incubating a new project. “The biggest challenge in the sector is the lack of adequate aviation infrastructure and antiquated rules and regulations. As an entrepreneur, I have to work with the government and be an agent of the change I wish to see. Poor and unreliable logistics is a nightmare for industries. My new company will integrate rural India with medium and large towns by providing seamless integrated logistics and air cargo services”.

Gopinath has bagged many national and international awards for his sterling achievements, including France’s Chevalier de la legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) in April 2007 in recognition of his contribution to Indo-French cooperation in the field of aviation. He is also the recipient of the Rajyotsava Award by the Government of Karnataka, Personality of the Decade Award instituted by KG Foundation, Editors Choice Award by the Indian Express Trade and Tourism Awards and the Sir M. Visvesvaraya Memorial Award by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry.