India’s civil aviation authorities along with industry stakeholders have identified five potential locations for undertaking controlled flights of electric vertical take-off and landing or eVTOL aircraft over a 12-18 month period.
The locations are – a coastal airstrip at Mandvi (Kutch), Sabarmati Riverfront (Ahmedabad), Amreli district (Gujarat), Kurnool and Puttaparthi Airport in Andhra Pradesh. The controlled flights are expected to run through 2026.
Senior representative from Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution along with officials from Ministry of Civil Aviation, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and key industry stakeholders visited the locations, which in near future will evolve into world-class sandbox sites to attract both global and domestic original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to conduct field trials in India and facilitate the
development of an ecosystem for Advanced Air Mobility transport solutions.
According to a senior official, representatives from Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) startups such as ePlane, BluJ, Nalwa as well as private business jet and helicopter service provider JetSetGo, were part of the delegation, which evaluated the sites.
“These field visits mark an important milestone in India’s journey towards AAM integration. By establishing sandbox sites, India aims to create an ecosystem that enables safe and efficient AAM deployment, aligning with the country’s broader Viksit Bharat objectives,” said Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in a statement.
The eVTOLs in development by Indian startups as well as those by foreign OEMs, are initially expected to serve as Air Taxis and countries such as China, US, UAE are already taking the lead in creating an ecosystem with an aim to initiate commercial services in the coming few years.
DGCA recently released the airworthiness criteria for operations of eVTOLs as well as guidelines for setting of vertiports, a designated landing and take-off facility, in order to create the nascent framework for Advanced Air Mobility in the country.