Even in turbulent times, Capt Gopinath to launch new airline

New Delhi, Apr 19: Captain R Gopinath, a pioneer in the aviation industry and who made air travel affordable to the common man has decided to rekindle his aviation dreams yet again. After successful stints on the form of Air Deccan and Deccan 360, his company Deccan Charters Limited has been given permission to operate flights to 21 destinations by the Civil Aviation Ministry. The brand new endeavour will have its base in South India.

Intending to fly it as a scheduled airline, the company has been granted the “no-objection certificate” about two months ago to kick off procedures to start the airline. As per the application filed by the company, the airline will start operations with Airbus 320s and ATR-72s.

Bangalore-based Capt Gopinath was one of the pioneers who utilized his entrepreneurial skills in the aviation industry and heralded the Re 1 ticket in the early years. He sold his company to King of Good times, Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher, and named it Kingfisher Red.

A few years down the line, he also launched an air cargo company that failed to elicit the sort of response compared to his first jaunt. Gopinath plans to start his passenger airline at the end of this year or early next year. It is also understood that the “no-compete clause” with Mallya’s Kingfisher will end by the end of the year.

The stations that the new airline would fly include Mumbai, Delhi, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Goa.

OneIndia News