Air Deccan Founder Captain Gopinath Who Made Cheap Air Travel Possible, Is Back With New Venture!

Nearly a decade after he exited the industry, Captain Gopinath, one of the pioneers of the Indian aviation scene is back.

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GR Gopinath, aka Captain Gopinath the founder of India's first budget carrier, Air Deccan is set to take to the skies once again.

Under the UDAN scheme which is aimed at increasing air connectivity in smaller cities, five airline companies including Air Deccan have been given the go ahead.

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The new venture from Gopinath will operate flights between Delhi-Agra, Kolkata-Burnpur, Kolkata-Cooch Behar, Bagdogra-Durgapur, Kolkata-Jamshedpur, Kolkata-Rourkela, Shillong from various cities in the north east, Dehradun-Pantnagar and Delhi-Pantnagar, Mumbai-Kolhapur, Mumbai-Jalgaon, Mumbai-Nashik, Pune-Nashik, Mumbai-Sholapur.

According to Mint, the company is focusing on smaller 18-19 seater planes to connect several remote locations.

Gopinath, a retired captain in the Indian Army ventured into the Indian aviation sector in 1997 with the launch of Deccan Aviation, which offered chartered helicopter service. But in 2003, when launched Air Deccan, with a tagline, 'simplyfly', it added a new chapter in the country's aviation history.

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The Bengaluru-based company introduced budget air travel to Indians, mostly targeting at long-distance passengers who would otherwise be spending days on a train.

The idea was a runaway success, and the company grew exponentially. In its peak, Air Deccan had a fleet of 43 air crafts, with 350 daily flights to 61 destinations and had a market share of 22 per cent passengers.

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However, it couldn't convert the success story into numbers and slowly financial problems started affecting the company.

It was around this time flamboyant business tycoon Vijay Mallya who had introduced his Kingfisher Airlines, and wanted to the biggest player in the Indian aviation scene came in as an investor of Air Deccan in 2007.

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It also gave Mallya permit to operate internally as his Kingfisher Airlines was yet to complete the five years domestic operation mandated by the Civil Aviation for international flights.

While initially, the two companies had agreed that the two carriers will operate as separate entities, but by 2008 Air Deccan, now known as Siplyfly Deccan was merged with Kingfisher.

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Gopinath's second entry into the highly competitive budget airlines business was made possible as he had retained the chartered business of Deccan Aviation which was renamed as Deccan Charters.

During his days away from aviation, Gopinath had tried his hands in politics with two failed attempts in Lok Sabha elections in 2009 and 2014.