Captain G R Gopinath is the father of low-cost aviation in India.
This year, the chairman of Air Deccan was conferred the Chevalier de la legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) award by the French government. A recognition of his contribution to the development of Indo-French cooperation in aviation.
For Captain 'Gopi', right, it was a momentous year for a wholly different reason. Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines bought a 26% stake in Deccan Aviation for Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.50 billion) in June. After the Deccan buyout, the combine commands a market share of about 28.9%, inching close to Jet Airways.
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Air Deccan, India's first budget airline, is now rebranded SimpliFly Deccan.
Deccan completes five years of domestic operations by the middle of next year and will be eligible for international operations.
On December 20, Kingfisher and Air Deccan decided to merge. The merger, whenever it goes through, will create the largest airline in the domestic aviation market and also pave the way for Kingfisher to fly overseas.
The new company will be called Kingfisher Airlines; Mallya will be chairman and CEO; Captain Gopi, vice-chairman.
Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Is the party in the sky over? | The king of good times
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