Incorporated in April 1992 as a limited liability company, the airline began operations as an air taxi operator in 1993. It began full-fledged operations in 1995 with international flights added in 2004. The airline went public in 2005 and in 2007, when it acquired Air Sahara. With its competitors, mainly SpiceJet and IndiGo, lowering ticket fares in the following years, it was forced to follow suit, hurting overall performance resulting in steep financial losses. It dropped to second place behind IndiGo in October 2017, with a passenger market share of 17.8%. The downward slide continued and resulted in bankruptcy in 2019. Before the founding of Vistara, it was the only other full-service airline of India apart from Air India. It ceased operations in April 2019, but is slated to restart operations in summer 2021.