Deccan has certainly changed for the better. I had always avoided Deccan Airways until recently when I had to make this important trip and Deccan was the only airline where I found seats. I was apprehensive about the quality of service I would receive, but was in for a pleasant surprise. Every operation, from baggage handling, behavior of in-flight crew and the way the aircraft was handledshowed flawless efficiency. I wish to congratulate Vijay Mallya for bringing about this turnaround
really I wouldn't have dream of ever flying. My first flight was Air Deccan from Delhi to Bangalore in Jan 2006. I took my wife to Mumbai and back to Bangalore in a promotional fare by air deccan. I was thinking of taking my children too to some place, but the merger shattered the dream of mine and so many others like me. Can you imagine a basic fare of Rs 10/- from Bangalore to Mumbai. Now a days the fuel surcharge itself is soaring to heights. After merger there is little difference between Air Deccan's fare and other flights, on one occasion the difference between Jet Airways and Simplyfly deccan was very little, so I took Jet Airways for the first time in my life. Let's hope one day a new Gopinath will born to fulfill the dreams of people like me.
Capt Gopinath was a good buisness man,his ideas were good.Air Travel in a cheap way is really good.So Many People benfited out of it.But if you see the quality it was okay only.He should have concentrated on the competators part also.Mergers and Aquasition really matters.In Transportation in Travel high preference should be given to saftey.The Merger and Aquasition resulted in A Bigger Business Mans Corporate Victroy.Now other Low Cost Airliner will be thinking twice to merge with Bigger Airlines.
RE:Megers & Aquasistion Results in Airlines
by venu gopal on Jan 17, 2008 03:58 PM Permalink
Mr.Gopinath did everyhting correct except in trusting Mallya. He shd hv consulted people from companies which Mallya took over and later discarded after extracting max out of htem. He is a ruthless businessman The fact is only such people survive and prosper in the present world.
RE:government killed gopinath drean
by philip thomas on Jan 02, 2008 10:39 AM Permalink
Wannabe Gopinaths wish list in this regard might include the following (not in any particular order):
1. Making ATF available at international rates (i.e. 70-80% less than in India).
2. Straitening out air routes to reduce fuel consumption and travel time.
3. Converting under-utilised military airbases close to metros into secondary airports into which low cost carriers can fly.
4. Allowing new airports to come up 50 km or more away from other domestic (but not international) airports.
5. Getting the military to shift flight training to more remote places so that airlines can operate more freely into civil enclaves and amortise their capital costs of aircraft.
6. Tackle encroachments and dilatory tactics at government airports in order to enlarge airport space and especially for aircraft parking, parallel taxiways, passenger terminals etc.
7. Avoid Taj Mahal syndrome in airport design and construction to keep airport charges low and hence air fares low.
RE:government killed gopinath drean
by philip thomas on Jan 02, 2008 12:16 PM Permalink
One other important item would be:
8. An institutional mechanism which could distinguish between introductory pricing by new carriers to get a foothold in the business versus predatory pricing by incumbents to put newbies out of business. And which could act expeditiously before damage is done.
This article is obviously written who has little knowledge of corporate finance. My Gopinath is laughing all the way to the bank. He might have hurt his ego a little bit but I don't see that as a reason to feel sorry for Mr. Gopinath.
RE:Goodness me...
by mahesh lakshminarayan on Jan 14, 2008 05:32 PM Permalink
I too read like that.He had made a huge profit by selling his airline to Vijay Mallyas Kingfisher.There is nothing to be much seen here.
This is the worst flyer. They treated passengers like cattle, knowing that they were coming to them for the lower charges. . This flyer was doomed because of its style. It didn't respect customers who were the source for its money. Thus, nobody other than those wanting to save money badly would want to ride deccan. And when other taxes came in, even those trying to save money badly would look to the trains.
RE:Hmm..
by Na rr on Jan 14, 2008 08:12 PM Permalink
@Rajneesh; People who have criticised Deccan might be the one's who travel tickets are booked by their Company they work.If the same guys who criticise Deccan travel regularly from the money in their own pockets then they would stop whining. Whether its cattle carrier or worst flyer atleast they did give railways and other carriers a nightmare.Instead of thinking of the positives some guys just criticise blindly without considering how the airline situation was 6 months before Deccan started its operations and 6 months after its operations.
Survival of the fittest is the order of the day. while appreciating Gopinath's bold venture, exposure to external market forces took its toll and the dream ended. All this is tall talk and meant for high fliers. Our common man needs good, safe roads, less crowded and economical travel in reasonable time frame. For this there is enough money-capital,materials, manpower, technology, methods. But what we need most- motivation to do a thing and do it better is totally lacking in us. As a result we only have bad and unsafe roads,bad transport everywhere. We have blame ourselves for it since we encourage incompetent people and do everything needed except ggod work. but how to MOTIVATE people for a right cause is a big question!
RE:Low cost airline survival!
by philip thomas on Jan 01, 2008 06:07 PM Permalink
Why the bias against air travel? Distances are huge and topographies daunting. What's the harm in reducing a 12-15 hour road/train journey to 1 hour or less? Why not apply your own mantra "motivation to do a thing and do it better" to Gopinath's perhaps crude attempt.
