EXCLUSIVE! History repeats itself? Gopinath looks at scheduled carrier
Neelam Mathews April 14, 2012 An application has been filed with the Ministry of Civil Aviation by the tsar of low cost airlines, Capt Gopinath of Deccan Charters Ltd., to start a scheduled carrier with Airbus 320s and ATR-72s, Aerospace Diary learns. Having sold Air Deccan to Kingfisher, the no-compete clause will end by the end of 2012, giving him enough time to get his finances and infrastructure in order. Not disputing this, Gopinath chose to talk to Aerospace Diary on the vacuum created by the “sudden collapse of Kingfisher” likely to leave a big hole in the market. “Air India is in a mess and Jet is in losses and is not expanding. Even IndiGo is not doing what RyanAir did…..” says Gopinath, not willing to expand the statement further. We hear Gopinath wants to fly to destinations with a large base in the south. A presentation to MOCA is said to include 21 destinations including Mumbai, Delhi, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Goa. Times...