Gopinath: Role reversal

Mumbai, April 18: Captain G.R. Gopinath — the man who pioneered the concept of a low cost airline in India — will no longer figure on the list of promoters of Deccan Aviation, the airline he founded in 2003.

Gopinath, K.J. Samuel and Vishnu Singh Rawal submitted letters to Deccan Aviation requesting that they be “declassified from the promoters’ category”.

Last year, Gopinath sold a 26 per cent stake in the low cost airline to a Vijay Mallya-owned entity called Kingfisher Radio. Mallya also operates a full-service airline called Kingfisher Airlines. Later, Mallya acquired another 20 per cent through an open offer.

Mallya has since raised his stake to 49 per cent in the airline through market purchases this year.

The latest development signals that Gopinath and Mallya have been unable to sort out their differences over the way the loss-making airline should be run.

Gopinath could not be contacted to explain why he had decided to opt out of the promoters’ category.

Deccan Aviation is the parent of the airline Air Deccan which is due to be merged with Kingfisher Airlines.

Gopinath has an 8.53 per cent stake as a promoter in Deccan Aviation. Samuel and Vishnu Rawal own about 6.45 per cent and 2.21 per cent, respectively, in Deccan Aviation.

Kingfisher Airlines plans to start overseas operations under Deccan’s licence from August when the latter completes five years of domestic operations to qualify to fly abroad.

While Kingfisher will fly on premium western routes such as the US and the UK, Deccan will serve passengers flying to the Gulf.

Gopinath, who has always been passionate to preserve his low cost brand even after the merger, recently said that he would invest about Rs 800 crore in a new cargo airline and logistics firm, Deccan Cargo.

Gopinath will own a 100 per cent stake in Deccan Cargo, which is expected to start operations with around nine A-310 aircraft.

He also said that he might sell part of his stake to raise funds for this new venture.