''Air Deccan not for sale'' Gopinath to Mallya

"We are not for sale..... We are three times bigger (than Kingfisher) in routes and operations."

Gopinath added for good measure that, "He (Mallya) must restrict himself to running his own airline rather than talking about Air Deccan."

Mallya had earlier said he did not have any current plans to acquire Air Deccan.

However, earlier there were reports that the UB Group, promoting company of Kingfisher Airlines, was interested in taking over Air Deccan. Mallya and Gopinath were also reported to have held parleys on the issue.

Air Deccan is India''s largest low-fare airline with over 350 daily flights and a fleet of new Airbus A320s and ATRs.

Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines is positioned as a full service-true value carrier, had last year sought to acquire Sahara group-promoted Air Sahara, but the deal never happened due to differences over valuation.