Captain G R Gopinath
Encyclopedia
Captain G. R. Gopinath is a pioneer of low cost air travel in India. He is the founder of the low cost airline Air Deccan
. Captain G. R. Gopinath is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and has served the Indian Army
.
He was born in a small village called Gorur in Hassan district of Karnataka. His father was a poor school teacher and a farmer as well. He went to a Kannada-medium school till Class V after which he was selected at the Sainik School in Bijapur which had just been set up to cater to students in Karnataka. Incidentally, he failed the first time he appeared for the entrance exam as the paper was in English of which he did not know a word. His headmaster, however, was a very determined man and he wrote to the defence ministry asking them how they hoped to recruit boys from villages in South India if the paper was held in English and not in their mother tongue. He was able to appear again for the exam, this time in Kannada and that's how he got selected.
After completing school, he got selected to the NDA (National Defence Academy) and went on to be commissioned in the Indian Army where he spent the next eight years and fought in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war. He quit the Army to come back to his village and take up farming. He got into sericulture and eco-farming (award winning Seri culturist). Later, he set up Deccan Charter, India's first private helicopter charter company which was followed by India's first low-cost airline Air Deccan. His dream was to have an inclusive India with equitable growth for which connectivity was crucial.
He currently lives in Bangalore with his wife and 2 daughters, Pallavi and Krithika.
In 2009 he stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in the Lok Sabha elections.
In 2009 Gopinath started Deccan 360 freight and logistics operation.
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.
. In 2003 he launched India's first low-cost airline, Air Deccan
which was later purchased and merged into Kingfisher Airlines.His only aim in Deccan was not just to make the air fares as cheap as he could to make it possible for a common man to fly but a venture capital project made into motion and made huge profit by selling entire enterprise to UB Group.
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.
2005 - Rajyotsava Award (Karnataka
)
2007 - Chevalier de la legion d’Honneur (France
)
Personality of the Decade Award (K.G. Foundation)
Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Award (Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry)
Air Deccan
Kingfisher Red, known formerly as Simplifly Deccan and prior to that as Air Deccan, is a low-cost brand run by Kingfisher Airlines. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India....
. Captain G. R. Gopinath is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and has served the Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
.
Personal
Captain Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar Gopinath (or 'Gopi' to his friends) was born in a Hassan Iyengar family in the remote village of Gorur, Karnataka. He was educated in a village school and at Sainik School, Bijapur. After school he took a commission in the Indian Army with which he served for eight years. Thereafter he became a farmer who converted barren land in to proper plantation. Next, he started the Malnad Mobikes(Enfield dealership)and opened a hotel in Hasan.He was born in a small village called Gorur in Hassan district of Karnataka. His father was a poor school teacher and a farmer as well. He went to a Kannada-medium school till Class V after which he was selected at the Sainik School in Bijapur which had just been set up to cater to students in Karnataka. Incidentally, he failed the first time he appeared for the entrance exam as the paper was in English of which he did not know a word. His headmaster, however, was a very determined man and he wrote to the defence ministry asking them how they hoped to recruit boys from villages in South India if the paper was held in English and not in their mother tongue. He was able to appear again for the exam, this time in Kannada and that's how he got selected.
After completing school, he got selected to the NDA (National Defence Academy) and went on to be commissioned in the Indian Army where he spent the next eight years and fought in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war. He quit the Army to come back to his village and take up farming. He got into sericulture and eco-farming (award winning Seri culturist). Later, he set up Deccan Charter, India's first private helicopter charter company which was followed by India's first low-cost airline Air Deccan. His dream was to have an inclusive India with equitable growth for which connectivity was crucial.
He currently lives in Bangalore with his wife and 2 daughters, Pallavi and Krithika.
In 2009 he stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in the Lok Sabha elections.
In 2009 Gopinath started Deccan 360 freight and logistics operation.
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.
Aviation career
In 1995, the Indian government started the reforms process by encouraging entrepreneurship. In the next year he started a private sector commercial helicopter service, Deccan AviationDeccan Aviation
Deccan Aviation is an aviation company based in Bangalore, India that operates helicopter and fixed-wing charter services. Its main base is HAL Bangalore International Airport.-History:...
. In 2003 he launched India's first low-cost airline, Air Deccan
Air Deccan
Kingfisher Red, known formerly as Simplifly Deccan and prior to that as Air Deccan, is a low-cost brand run by Kingfisher Airlines. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India....
which was later purchased and merged into Kingfisher Airlines.His only aim in Deccan was not just to make the air fares as cheap as he could to make it possible for a common man to fly but a venture capital project made into motion and made huge profit by selling entire enterprise to UB Group.
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.
Awards & Honors
1996 - Rolex awards for Enterprise2005 - Rajyotsava Award (Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
)
2007 - Chevalier de la legion d’Honneur (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
)
Personality of the Decade Award (K.G. Foundation)
Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Award (Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry)
Books by Gopinath
- Simply Fly: A Deccan Odyssey, Collins Business, 2010, ISBN 978-81-7223-842-1