I remember reading that Vijay Mallya had given up his Indian Citizenship to evade tax and secondly after he managed the Rajya Sabha nominations some of the MLA's of the Karnataka Assembly had also filed a memorandum against his candidature. All this is old story.
The truth is Captain Gopinath made it possible for people like me to fly. It was Air Deccan which changed the concept of flying for many of the Indian families.
Mallya will only be known for the flicked version of Pirelli calendar and the innumerable violations.On the other hand Gopinath and Air Deccan will always be remembered for a new concept of flying which gave majority of the Indians a chance to fly.
I really admire the effort of Mr Gopinath. But a bigger fish is bound to eat the smaller one , sooner or later this was going to happen. What has happened with Mr Gopinath will one day happen with Mr Mallay also ..... just remember my words .
Even though Gopinath has started his airline for a good enough cause of providing opportunity to every common man to fly there were some external factors like the air traffic congestion, fuel surcharge, lack of aviation infrastructure, support issues like cargo handling, lack of pilots, troublesome weather, etc were hampering the efficiency of Air Deccan. Increased passenger traffic and low cost model pushed the airline into losses. I like the aspect of Gopinath to save the employees by avoiding lay off kind of a situation. Frequent delays tarnished the image of Deccan. I find no ill intention with Mallya as he was planning to expand and there was Deccan waiting to be rescued. Only that the infrastructure should improve as soon as possible to give life to the aviation industry so that more such Air Deccans take birth and more Kingfishers take on the world aviation biggies.
Have flied AD several times, there was nothing wrong about it, perception of the people used to be something, but the Fact is that many who used to talk behind-but they were using the same airline several times. One of the comments was that they dont serve food etc etc. be frank are we traveling to eat or reach the destination faster.. for a shorter distance say from bangalore to chennai it takes around 40minutes on board.. is food important or the cost to fly.. is it really worth paying amount for a sandwich /coke the way it was charged. Today late arrival / departure has become common with every airline, reasons may be many.. An individual called "gopinath" created the dream for general public to fly.. till the last moment he delivered it. Hads off to thim.. Today lot of us miss the economy fares
Dear Capt.Gopinath, We all like minded Indians,take this opportunity to salute your vision for a people's carrier.There will always be challenges to the likes of Mallya's and Goel's. Do not lose heart.I,on behalf of many Indians who see courage,determination and compassion in ur endeavours would like to pledge our loyalty to another dream of urs. Dream which will make us proud of being a true Indian. Dear Sir, Please start afresh and this time the business model should be based on franchise concept. For eg : Start a route - fully operational - profit making sector and then franchisee that route to the young indian enterpreneaurs. U be the guiding force to them. In case u want to start anything like this , plz count me in. My best wishes are with u. Would like to conclude with the saying from "The Alchemist" " %u201CAt a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what%u2019s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fates. That%u2019s the world%u2019s greatest lie. Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.%u201D (Melchizedek, the Old King)
* %u201CAs he mused about these things, he realised that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure%u201D
* %u201CThere is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it%
Dear Capt.Gopinath, We all like minded Indians,take this opportunity to salute your vision for a people's carrier.There will always be challenges to the likes of Mallya's and Goel's. Do not lose heart.I,on behalf of many Indians who see courage,determination and compassion in ur endeavours would like to pledge our loyalty to another dream of urs. Dream which will make us proud of being a true Indian. Dear Sir, Please start afresh and this time the business model should be based on franchise concept. For eg : Start a route - fully operational - profit making sector and then franchisee that route to the young indian enterpreneaurs. U be the guiding force to them. In case u want to start anything like this , plz count me in. My best wishes are with u. Would like to conclude with the saying from "The Alchemist" " %u201CAt a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what%u2019s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fates. That%u2019s the world%u2019s greatest lie. Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.%u201D (Melchizedek, the Old King)
* %u201CAs he mused about these things, he realised that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure%u201D
* %u201CThere is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it%
even at the time of planning his dreams to reach the skies to the common man, i think, he would have planned for meeting his expenses at this lower rates. I wonder, what went wrong. But Mr. Gopinath deserves great appreciation for what he did in this industry. The services were very good and always in time. Wish that he is able to come back again with full strenth
RE:AIR DECCAN
by yogananda ayyadevara on Dec 31, 2007 04:47 PM Permalink
gopinath survived in a stifiling environment. Low cost flying helped many entreprenuers to do business without losing shirt.I feel he could not manage growth problems. employees at counters were overloaded and could not handle the increase in number of passengers.for example passengers flying air bus did not have smooth travel. Failure is a stepping stone for success. Gopinath will find more supporters again to make his dream a reality, as he knows his limits now.
Air Deccan's biggest undoing was its inefficient handling. Yes - Air Deccan started a revolution and brought the airfares down to earth, but cancelled flights, delayed flights, rude and arrogant staff ensured that it dint really click with the business passengers. anyways, I wish Gopinath all the luck and hope he comes out with an other low cost airline.
