Capt G R Gopinath or Gopi as he is
affectionately called was born in a remote village of Gorur in
Karnataka. Starting his studies in a village school, he completed his
further education at a Military school. Thereafter he joined the
distinguished National Defence Academy and later graduated from the Indian
Military Academy as a commissioned officer in the Indian Army. He then
went on to serve the Army for eight years.
Even during his Army days he was known for his
forthright and outspoken ideas. It was not long before he felt the need to
explore the avenues outside the confines of the Army establishment. He
took premature retirement from Army in 1978 and took the bold step of
starting farming in his remote village tilling an arid and inhospitable
piece of land. No one in his family was willing to cultivate this
ancestral land due to the harsh conditions and inaccessibility. He
struggled initially trying to cultivate coconuts, bananas, cereals and
vegetables. Later on he took to sericulture and with his innovative ideas
he developed an eco friendly method of silk farming. This won him the
‘Rolex International Award’ for Enterprise in 1996 for path
breaking development in silk farming. The same year, he was also listed by
the OUTLOOK magazine as one of the 50 Indians who would rise from
obscurity to fame in the coming decade. During this period he dabbled with
many business enterprises and achieved much success. On November 1, 2005
he was conferred the prestigious Rajyotsava Award by Government of
Karnataka. Some of the other prestigious awards conferred on him
are the ‘Personality of the Decade Award’ instituted by K G
Foundation, ‘Editors Choice Award’ in the Indian Express
Trade and Tourism Awards, Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur
conferred upon by The Republic of France and “Sir M Visvesvaraya
Memorial Award” instituted by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers
of Commerce & Industry.
Sometime in 1995, the Govt. of India started the
reforms process by encouraging entrepreneurship. This inspired the
entrepreneur in him to identify the tremendous potential Helicopter
Charter had in India. Along with an old Army friend he decided to start a
private sector commercial helicopter service in 1996. Starting with just
one helicopter, today Deccan Aviation boasts of 10 (Ten) Helicopters and
two charter jets operating from eight major locations criss-crossing the
entire length of the country. This company is India’s most reputed private
Air Charter Company with a presence now in Srilanka also.
The burgeoning middle class in India presented a
tremendous potential for the growth of Aviation. Understanding the needs
of this segment, Capt Gopinath decided to start the first Low Cost, No
Frills Airline of India. Launched on 25th August 2003, Air
Deccan revolutionized air travel in India. With a vision to connect
hitherto unconnected parts of India, Air Deccan today connects many remote
parts of the country where no other airline had operated. Air Deccan
created many firsts including the first airline to issue E-tickets and to
sell advertisement space on aircraft exteriors. The web enabled ticketing
system virtually brings airline ticketing to one’s drawing room.
Encouraged by its huge success Air Deccan has embarked
upon a massive expansion programme to emerge as the largest and most
popular airline in India. The airline is operating more than 300 flights a
day connecting 61 destination and has flown 7.3 Million passengers since
its inception. Sometime back Air Deccan raised private equity of 50
million $ with Capital Investments and ICICI Ventures. As part of its
expansion plans, the airline has signed for 60 brand new Airbus and 32
ATRs. Hence there will be one Airbus and one ATR being inducted every
alternate month. In addition the company is also acquiring some more
aircraft on lease. As a result a total of 80 aircraft will be acquired
with one aircraft being inducted every month for the next 80 months. Not
one to be effected by the instant success and recognition Capt Gopinath
still remains the affable and easily approachable person that he always
was, relentlessly pursuing his dream of enabling every Indian to Fly.
Indian Aviation today salutes to the
spirit of enterprise and pioneering endeavours of this great man which has
transformed the entire scenario of aviation and has made the aviation
reachable to the common man of India.