ModiLuft was a private airline based in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It operated on domestic routes until it shut down in 1996. It maintained high standards in flight safety, ground maintenance and on-time performance owing to support from
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
AG. ModiLuft's aircraft were configured in First, Business and Economy Class, making it the only private airline in India during its time to fly a three class configuration on domestic routes. It used
Boeing 737-200
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...
aircraft leased from Lufthansa and had an incident free track record of flying.
History
![ModiLuft Boeing 737-200 Martin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/ModiLuft_Boeing_737-200_Martin.jpg)
ModiLuft was among the first of India's first post-
deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
airlines, launched in April 1993 by the Indian industrialist S K Modi, in technical partnership with the German flag carrier Lufthansa. The German airline provided pilots and trained ModiLuft's Indian staff including pilots, cabin crew, mechanics, city and ground passenger handling staff . Lufthansa Technik provided maintenance, overhaul and spares support. The airline project, started in February, 1993 by S K Modi, Ashutosh Dayal Sharma, Yash Kohli and Kanwar K S Jamwal, first flew from New Delhi to Mumbai on 5 May 1993. The airline commenced operations within three months of its conception - a record of kinds in itself. Kanwar K. S. Jamwal, General Manager Projects, was responsible for setting up the airline and its operations and put together a team of Indian and German engineers and pilots. Capt. R L. Kapur, Wing. Cdr. S. Raj (Retd.), Capt Manoj Airon, along with a team of able airline experts, RK Anand and Kavita Batra helped in meeting the aviation industry standards and in conforming to the Indian Aircraft Rules set by the Director General Civil Aviation. The first two batches of the cabin crew were trained at Lufthansa's flight crew training facility at Frankfurt. Modiluft was perhaps the only Airline to achieve an average aircraft utilization of a minimum 12 hours per day and an on-time departure CSAT score of 98.8% in Indian Skies.
The two companies had parted ways after the Indian partner accused Lufthansa of not abiding by its funding commitment. In turn, the German airline alleged that ModiLuft had defaulted on lease payments for the four Lufthansa aircraft. The relationship between the two parties soured in mid-1996 after Modi began putting pressure on Lufthansa to take a stake of up to 40 per cent in the Indian carrier.
In May 1996, Lufthansa announced that they had decided to terminate their agreement with ModiLuft. The aircraft belonging to Lufthansa were grounded due to the litigation and ModiLuft acquired
Boeing 737-400
The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft.
Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...
aircraft from
Air UK
AirUK was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations regional British airline formed in 1980 as a result of a merger involving four rival UK-based regional airlines. British and Commonwealth (B&C)-owned ...
as replacements. The future of ModiLuft, however, was already sealed and the airline ceased operations in 1996.
ModiLuft eventually returned Lufthansa's aircraft by 30 September 1997 as part of an out of court settlement.
The airline ownership changed hands due to lack of funds and was renamed Royal Airways, an airline that never got off the ground. ModiLuft's
Air operator's certificate
An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...
(AOC) had not lapsed and was eventually used by a different set of promoters for the
Low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...
SpiceJet
SpiceJet is an Indian budget airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019. The airline operates 630 daily fli ...
.
Destinations
*
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
;
*
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
(
Indira Gandhi International Airport
Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New De ...
), hub
*
Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...
(
Jammu Airport
Jammu Airport, officially known as Jammu Civil Enclave, is a domestic airport serving Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is situated 14 km (8.7 miles) from the India–Pakistan border.
Infrastructure
Terminal 1
The terminal can only ...
)
*
Leh
Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former res ...
(
Leh Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport)
*
Srinagar
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
(
Srinagar Airport)
*
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
(
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic aft ...
)
*
Bengaluru
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
(
HAL Bangalore International Airport
HAL Airport is an airport that serves Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located about 12 km east of the city centre, it has one runway and operates 24/7. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a state-owned defence company ...
)
*
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
(
Begumpet Airport
Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad, also known as Hyderabad Old Airport, is a civil enclave located in Begumpet. The airport is home to the Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy (RGAA), the Telangana State Aviation Academy and the Begumpet Air Force Statio ...
)
Historical fleet
*4 -
Boeing 737-201
*2 -
Boeing 737-400
The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft.
Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...
*1 -
Boeing 727-200
The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...
References
External links
Fleet information
{{Airlines of India
Defunct airlines of India
Airlines established in 1993
Airlines disestablished in 1996
Indian companies disestablished in 1996
Indian companies established in 1993
Modi Enterprises
1993 establishments in Delhi
Companies based in Delhi