Never underestimate the creativity of a Gupta

This really takes the biscuit for entrepreneurial creativity. It’s comes from a certain gent by the name of Bahadur Chand Gupta (no relation that I know of, but I guess there must be a link somewhere). This Indian entrepreneur has created the ultimate low-cost airline – one that doesn’t actually fly anywhere.

In 2003 he bought an old Airbus 300 off an insurance company, re-built it and now it’s sitting in a Delhi suburb where people pay about £2 a ‘trip’ so that they can experience what it’s like to fly without ever leaving the ground.

You’ve got to admire this guy’s ability to create fantasy. His plane has only one wing and part of the tail is missing, but he’s got a crew of six with himself as captain while his wife serves drinks and trays of airline food to the passengers with her team of stewardesses. Captain Gupta meantime makes announcements about air turbulence and the descent into Delhi … By all accounts he’s wowing his customers and his employees who think this is all good training for the real thing.

Surely every kid must have played make-believe games like this and now here’s a retired airline engineer bringing the fantasy to life. It reminds me of a crazy French friend whose party piece is to ‘fly’ a Dakota from his bar stool complete with all engine sound effects, equipment checks and conversations with the tower. I’ll bet he never thought that those skills could be making him a good living on the ground.

I think what Captain Gupta’s doing is just fabulous. Imagine how much fun he must be as a grandad.