Captain Gopinath: Creating value with his new cargo airline

New Delhi: It has been a long journey for Captain GR Gopinath, CMD of cargo airline Deccan 360, who soon after leaving Indian army first tried his hand at farming.
Gopinath's first venture was to infuse some life into his barren land and within a few years he was a successful sericulturist growing silk-worms.
Captain Gopinath was already showing his serial entrepreneur streak by that time and was looking for an opportunity to enter a new business – the airline business.
Air Deccan was India's first no frill airline model in India with fares as cheap as Rs 500 for a Delhi-Bangalore flight making it an instant hit.Air Deccan first flew in 2003 and has flown more than 15 million passengers but unplanned expansion and increased competition from new low cost carriers pushed Gopinath deeper into the red. But here again he showed his survival skills managing to first take the airline public and then selling 26 percent of his airline for Rs 550 crore to Vijay Mallya.
After dabbling in politics for some time, Captain Gopinath back in the aviation business this time with a cargo airline and has managed to rope in Reliance as an investor into his express cargo business.
16/04/10 NDTV.com

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Categories: Cargo Apr 2010, Deccan 360 Apr 2010, New Apr 2010