Chennai, Jan. 21

Deccan Aviation’s plans for hiving off its charter division into a separate company has not been affected by the Kingfisher Airlines picking up a 46 per cent stake in the company. Deccan Aviation had announced to the stock market in April 2007 about its intention to put the charter services into a separate company. Deccan Aviation’s Managing Director, Capt G.R. Gopinath, told Business Line last week that the hive-off plan was very much on.

Deccan Aviation started off as a chartered flight company and, when the aviation industry was opened to the private sector, began the airline. Today, the charter division has nine helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft. But the company has grown in size, thanks to the airline division.

The charter division earned revenues of about Rs 60 crore against Rs 2,500 crore of the whole company. “This business needs to be given focus and grown separately,” Capt Gopinath said, adding that hiving off the charter business and getting the new company listed on the stock exchanges would “unlock shareholder value”.

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