G. R. Gopinath

Gopinath was born in the town of Gorur,HassanKarnataka on November 13, 1951. Gopinath was admitted to a Kannada medium school quite late and straight away he joined Standard V. In 1962, Gopinath cleared the admission test and joined Sainik School, Bijapur. The sainik school helped and prepared Gopinath to clear the NDA entrance exams. After 3 years of rigorous training, Gopinath completed education from the NDA. He then went on to graduate from the IMA.

Upon retirement from the armed forces, he established an ecologically sustainable sericulture farm; his innovative methods earned him the Rolex Laureate Award in 1996. Next, he started the Malnad Mobikes (Enfield dealership) and opened a hotel in Hasan.

In 1997 he co-founded Deccan Aviation, a charter helicopter service. In 2003 Gopinath founded Air Deccan, a low cost airline; Air Deccan merged with Kingfisher Airlines in 2007. In 2009 he founded Deccan 360, a freight flight business. In July 2013, Deccan 360 was ordered to wind up by the Karnataka High Court order based on petitions filed by Dubai-based United Aviation Services (UAS) and another by M/s Patel Integrated Logistics (PIL) Pvt. Ltd. — seeking recovery of amounts due to them by winding up the company.

AVIATION LIFE

Air Deccan

In 1995, the Indian government started a regulatory reforms process to encourage entrepreneurship. In the next year Gopinath started a private sector commercial helicopter service, Deccan Aviation. The Company is now one of the largest private air charter company in India and Sri Lanka. In 2003 he launched India's first low-cost airline, Air Deccan; at the time of its 2007 purchase by Kingfisher Airlines, Air Deccan connected sixty nine cities around India.

In 2003, Captain Gopinath began his first air-craft service known as Air Deccan, this air service was a low-cost brand, the main aim was to fulfill the comman man's dream to fly. Air Deccan was one of the first low-cost services in India and was an instant success but due to the excessive competiton from other similar airline carriers, Air Deccan soon started to lose out to the competition. The company's overwhelming growth also saw the entry of several other low cost airbuses such as Indigo Airlines.

Deccan Charters

Today Captain Gopinath is focusing on Deccan Charters and has forayed into the Cargo and Express Logistics business.

Deccan 360

Deccan Express Logistics will be the first Indian company to create a hub and spoke distribution model in the express package industry in India. It will connect not only the major metropolitan areas but also the Tier-I and Tier-II cities to India’s trade network.

AWARDS

• In May 2006 he was knighted with “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur” the highest civilian award conferred by the French Government.

• 1996 - Rolex Awards for Enterprise

• 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)