France confers highest civilian award on Air Deccan's Capt GR Gopinath

Bangalore: The French government has bestowed its highest civilian award of 'Chevalier de la legion d'Honneur' on Capt GR Gopinath, chairman of Air Deccan, in recognition of his contribution towards the development of Indo-French cooperation.

Speaking after conferring the award, French ambassador Dominique Girard said, ''Our government honours Capt Gopinath as he had proved to be an engine that changed Indian aviation by broadening the limits of air travel. Due to his vision the middle class can now afford air travel in a country where it was only meant only for the rich and powerful. He is the true catalyst of low fare air travel in India.''

Capt Gopinath follows in the steps of other well-known Indian personalities in bagging the honour in recent times. Other recent recipients are Infosys' founder NR Narayana Murthy and former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan.

The envoy said that for the Air Deccan MD it has been a great journey from the 'cocoon to cockpit', he said referring to Capt Gopinath's earlier stint as a mulberry farmer.

''It is said that best part of India is reserved only to the elite who form a tiny part of the populace. People like him, with great 'human vision', are untiringly working to remove this tag,'' he added.

Responding to the award, Capt Gopinath thanked the support and affection shown by the French. ''I dreamt of launching low-cost air travel when I realised that reforms had come to stay in India and it was irreversible. I was sure that my country was destined for great times. I thank my friends who stood by my dreams,'' he said.

The Air Deccan chief said his company made a humble beginning with just one helicopter. Today, it operates 350 flights and touches 65 airports daily. ''When I flew in that helicopter I saw numerous dish antennas even in remote villages. Then I realised that in India hunger was not the problem anymore,'' he said.

After retiring from the army in 1978, Capt Gopinath launched India's first low-cost, no frills airline in 2003, with aircraft manufactured by Tulouse-based French company, ATR.