Sat, Aug 06, 2005 page11

• No-frills airline changing horizons for Indian travelers

  • THE OBSERVER
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  Captain Gorur Gopinath is the founder and face of Air Deccan, India's first and largest no-frills airline. He is vying to become the country's best-loved entrepreneur, but may also be remembered as a man who helped to pull rural India out of poverty.

  President Abdul Kalam refers to "connectivity" as one of the catalysts that will bring India into the developed world. Three-quarters of its population live outside urban hubs. The building of a "golden quadrilateral" motorway linking India's four main centers and the growth of Internet kiosks in all regions are part of this theory in motion -- as is the current domestic aviation boom.

  Less than two years after its launch, Air Deccan has carried 1.4 million passengers a year, operating 123 flights a day from 37 airports, many of which are rural hubs, poorly connected by train.

  Last month the airline produced the longest television commercial ever broadcast in India (150 seconds), despite flights already being 90 percent full. A flotation scheduled for next year is expected to raise US$300 million.

  On the day of my visit to Air Deccan's new office block in Bangalore, the Indian government had just announced that the cost of aviation fuel was to drop by 10 percent. Gopinath is pledging to pass the saving on to passengers.

  "You are looking very colorful today," he tells his head of communications, who is trying to organize the media onslaught.

  Captain Gopi, as he likes to be known, has certainly used his charm and social network to get ahead. But beyond this there is a self-confidence that seems to still be quite new in India. He has courted the regulatory authorities at the same time as refusing to participate in the ever-dominant Indian culture of back-handers and rigid hierarchy.

  Captain Gopi left the army in 1979 in order to farm. It was in the army that he earned his rank, not through flying. His family lands had been submerged by a dam project and in compensation the government had given them 40 acres of barren desert, principally occupied by snakes and scorpions. After a number of failed crops, he decided to rear silkworms. His success was such that in 1996 he was awarded the Rolex Award for Enterprise.

  "All the farmers were in debt. They were borrowing money for new fertilizers, fancy seeds and pesticides they couldn't afford. Many [were] in debt to the companies that were selling them," he said.

  He decided instead to cut costs.

  "In hindsight, it was good training for running a no-frills airline," he said.

  Instead of buying the latest pesticides and expensive equipment he used cheaper, organic methods: a thatched roof to regulate temperature and sun-dried paddy straw instead of expensive bamboo trays. Costs plummeted, the farm ceased to lose crops and where land on other farms went barren after a few years, his was sustainable. After that he was able to open a consultancy and wrote scientific papers on the subject.

  Restless, he moved to Bangalore, where he found himself unable to understand why his old army friend, helicopter pilot Captain K.J. Samuel, was unemployed.

  "I thought, the sun may not rise, but I cannot fail in this business," he said.

  Deccan Aviation started just as economic liberalization created a demand for private chartered helicopter flights. In the company's second year, the 1998 elections created more demand. Politicians representing inaccessible constituencies needed to campaign.. In Europe, he saw Ryanair, the inspiration that prompted him to start Air Deccan.

  The two-hour flight from Mumbai to Delhi typically costs around ?110 (US$196) with Indian Airlines or its plusher rival, Jet Airways. Air Deccan charges just ?35, similar to the cost of the same journey by train -- but the train takes about 24 hours.

  Only 1 percent of India's population has ever travelled by plane, so a country of a billion people has fewer flights each day than Norway. Rural India is littered with more than 300 unused airstrips. Captain Gopi has pledged to enable every Indian to fly at least once.
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