New Delhi: A fight for survival and desperate hunt for investors is nothing new for crisis-ridden SpiceJet. The airline traces its lineage to a JV formed by the S K Modi Group and Lufthansa back in 1990s.
Called ModiLuft, the full service airline was launched in 1993 around the same time when others like Jet, Damania, EastWest and Sahara Airlines took to the skies in the post-deregulation era. A dispute between the Modis and the German carrier saw the airline getting grounded around 1998.
That was the airline's first crisis in what now turns to be an unending quest for promoters and investors. In 2000, UK-based NRI Bhulo Kansagra bought into the airline. "They got Modiluft's lapsed licence revived and brought in a plane to start a full service airline called Royal Airlines," said a person long associated with SpiceJet.
Royal could not take off due to lack of investment.
Interestingly, around this time Kansagra and InterGlobe Group (holding company of IndiGo) were reportedly planning to launch the airline together.
In 2004, businessman Ajay Singh invested in the airline, which led to the formation of SpiceJet that began flying in 2005. InterGlobe also launched its airline IndiGo.
16/12/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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Called ModiLuft, the full service airline was launched in 1993 around the same time when others like Jet, Damania, EastWest and Sahara Airlines took to the skies in the post-deregulation era. A dispute between the Modis and the German carrier saw the airline getting grounded around 1998.
That was the airline's first crisis in what now turns to be an unending quest for promoters and investors. In 2000, UK-based NRI Bhulo Kansagra bought into the airline. "They got Modiluft's lapsed licence revived and brought in a plane to start a full service airline called Royal Airlines," said a person long associated with SpiceJet.
Royal could not take off due to lack of investment.
Interestingly, around this time Kansagra and InterGlobe Group (holding company of IndiGo) were reportedly planning to launch the airline together.
In 2004, businessman Ajay Singh invested in the airline, which led to the formation of SpiceJet that began flying in 2005. InterGlobe also launched its airline IndiGo.
16/12/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
