E-Paper
Gopinath flies a new dream with cargo liner
After turning a pioneer of no-frills flying in India with Air Deccan, Captain Gorur R Gopinath had to sell out to Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher, but is now at it again with India’s first international cargo airline, called Deccan 360.
It is a second coming for Captain Gorur R Gopinath. After turning a pioneer of no-frills flying in India with Air Deccan, the retired army captain had to sell out to Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher, but is now at it again with India’s first international cargo airline, called Deccan 360.
Deccan 360 will start commercial operations on May 27 from Delhi with an Airbus 310 freighter aircraft initially connecting Hong Kong, Dubai, Mumbai and Chennai sectors. It plans to build a 100-acre logistics hub near Nagpur.
Two more aircraft will join the fleet early next month and the total fleet would comprise nine aircraft including six small feeder aircraft (ATR42s). “We have just six dedicated cargo aircraft India where as China has 100 and Europe has 120. I thought business was staring on our face and I seized the opportunity,” Gopinath said at the launch of the freighter service.
Gopinath has invested $ 25 million in the venture. “We will need another $ 30 million as we go along and I plan to offload 24 per cent with strategic investors in the times to come,” he said.
