ModiLuft was among the first of India's first post-deregulation airlines, launched in April 1993 by the Indian industrialist S. K. Modi, in technical partnership with the German flag carrier Lufthansa.

[6] The airline project, started in February 1993 by Modi, Ashutosh Dayal Sharma, Yash Kohli, and Kanwar K. S. Jamwal, first flew from New Delhi to Mumbai on 5 May 1993.

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.

Modiluft was the only airline to achieve an average aircraft utilisation of a minimum 12 hours per day and an on-time departure CSAT score of 98.8% in India.

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.