Gopinath steps down from Kingfisher board

NEW DELHI: Capt G R Gopinath, credited with heralding the low-cost carrier model in the country, on Wednesday stepped down from the board of Kingfisher Airlines.

“Capt G R Gopinath and Captain K J Samuel have resigned from the board as Directors to take effect from the close of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the company held on Wednesday," Kingfisher said in a communique to the National Stock Exchange.

Capt Gopinath was appointed vice chairman of Kingfisher Airlines after the Vijay Mallya-led carrier took controlling stake in his budget airline Deccan Aviation.

Captain Gopinath has started a new venture — express transportation and logistics company 'Deccan 360' — where he is chairman and managing director.

Last year, Capt Gopinath had continuously been offloading his stake in Kingfisher, bringing his holding down to 0.3% in September 2009.