Capt G R Gopinath or Gopi as he is affectionately called was born in a remote village of Gorur in Karnataka. Starting his studies in a village school, he completed his further schooling at a Military school. Thereafter he joined the distinguished National Defence Academy and later graduated from the Indian Military Academy as a commissioned officer in the Indian Army. He then went on to serve the Army for eight years.

Even during his Army days he was known for his forthright and outspoken ideas. It was not long before he felt the need to explore the avenues outside the confines of the Army establishment. He took premature retirement from Army in 1978 and took the bold step of starting farming in his remote village tilling an arid and inhospitable piece of land. No one in his family was willing to cultivate this ancestral land due to the harsh conditions and inaccessibility. He struggled initially trying to cultivate coconuts, bananas, cereals and vegetables. Later on he took to sericulture and with his innovative ideas he developed an eco friendly method of silk farming. This won him the 'Rolex International Award' for Enterprise in 1996 for path breaking development in silk farming. The same year, he was also listed by the OUTLOOK magazine as one of the 50 Indians who would rise from obscurity to fame in the coming decade. During this period he dabbled with many business enterprises and achieved much success. On November 1, 2005 he was conferred the prestigious Rajyotsava Award by Government of Karnataka. Some of the other prestigious awards conferred on him are the 'Personality of the Decade Award' instituted by K G Foundation, 'Editors Choice Award' in the Indian Express Trade and Tourism Awards and "Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Award" instituted by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

Sometime in 1995, the Govt. of India started the reforms process by encouraging entrepreneurship. This inspired the entrepreneur in him to identify the tremendous potential Helicopter Charter had in India. Along with an old Army friend he decided to start a private sector commercial helicopter service in 1996. Starting with just one helicopter, today Deccan Aviation boasts of 10 (Ten) Helicopters and two charter jets operating from eight major locations criss-crossing the entire length of the country. This company is India's most reputed private Air Charter Company with a presence now in Srilanka also.

The burgeoning middle class in India presented a tremendous potential for the growth of Aviation. Understanding the needs of this segment, Capt Gopinath decided to start the first Low Cost, No Frills Airline of India. Launched on 25th August 2003, Air Deccan revolutionized air travel in India. With a vision to connect hitherto unconnected parts of India, Air Deccan today connects many remote parts of the country where no other airline had operated. Air Deccan created many firsts including the first airline to issue E-tickets and to sell advertisement space on aircraft exteriors. The web enabled ticketing system virtually brings airline ticketing to one's drawing room.

Encouraged by its huge success Air Deccan has embarked upon a massive expansion programme to emerge as the largest and most popular airline in India. The airline is operating close to 270 flights a day connecting 55 destination and has flown 6.6. Million passengers since its inception. Recently Air Deccan has raised private equity of 50 million $ with Capital Investments and ICICI Ventures. As part of its expansion plans, the airline has signed for 60 brand new Airbus and 32 ATRs. Hence there will be one Airbus and one ATR being inducted every alternate month. In addition the company is also acquiring some more aircraft on lease. As a result a total of 80 aircraft will be acquired with one aircraft being inducted every month for the next 80 months. Not one to be effected by the instant success and recognition Capt Gopinath still remains the affable and easily approachable person that he always was, relentlessly pursuing his dream of enabling every Indian to Fly.