But a year later, at the age of 52, Gopinath began his service in South India with a leased 48-seater aircraft, a $10 million investment and the belief that India's burgeoning middle class, which was already buying color televisions and cell phones, would buy plane tickets. In just two years of operation, no-frills airline Air Deccan has gone from one plane to 19 and one daily flight to 123. It has placed a $1.1 billion order with Airbus and will receive one aircraft per month for the next 64 months. In its first full year of operation, which ended in March, the company carried 1 million passengers and had $75 million in revenue. Expected turnover for this year: $250 million. Additionally, in 2004, the company raised $40 million in private equity from ICICI Venture Funds Management, India's largest private equity player, and Capital International, an arm of Los Angeles major fund manager Angeles, Capital Group. Air Deccan plans to go public in the coming months. “This is not the growth story of Air Deccan, this is the growth story of India,” says Gopinath. His success in the rapidly growing aviation industry sparked a gold rush. Two new airlines – Delhi-based SpiceJet Limited and beer baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines – have started flying in recent months. Several new players are waiting in the wings, including Indigo, backed by former US Airways boss Rakesh Gangwal, and GoAir, backed by Jeh Wadia, from the family controlling the giant Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing. a big market - but Gopinath went there and proved it," says Kapil Kaul of the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, a consultancy. "He led the way, and he led it successfully. "The man behind this new airline traces his roots to a village in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, where his father was a school teacher. His own upbringing transformed in nearly eight years in the Indian Army, tired of regimentation, he again turned to silk farming on family land The transition from cocoon to cockpit happened in 1995 when he. teamed up with an army friend, Captain KJ Samuel During a game of squash, they decided that India needed a helicopter company so Gopinath started one. with the name Deccan (taken from the plateau on which Bangalore is located, the company's headquarters then and now).).