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Gopinath Says Willing To Buyback Deccan Aviation Stake

By Madhav A Chanchani

  • 15 Oct 2008

Former Deccan Aviation owner and vice-chairman of Kingfisher Airlines GR Gopinath has said that he would be willing to buy back his airline from Kingfisher if it is looking to exit the low-cost carrier (LCC) business. "I have offered him to buy back the stake in Deccan if they are not interested in the low-cost model," said Gopinath while speaking to NDTV Profit.

On Monday, Kingfisher and Jet formed an operational alliance under which they plan to co-operate on routes and not compete with each other. They have also planned to save on shared infrastructure and buy fuel from the vendors together, as volume will give them more power to negotiate.

He added that there is no scope for a hostile bid of Kingfisher as Mallya controls more than 60% stake. Gopinath clearly sounded upset about Jet-Kingfisher deal and said he was against monopoly in the sector. When asked if he has financial backers for the deal, he said that "even for Deccan i found people who believed in my dream."

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Gopinath said that the deal will lead to re-emergence of cartelisation in the aviation industry which Deccan broke with its low-cost model. He added that the deal between Jet and kingfisher could lead to long term monopoly and is not good for the country. Gopinath said that rising air ticket prices has led to a shrinking market in the aviation industry.

 

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