Rajiv Bansal, secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, on Monday said that India wants to be part electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft dream along with the rest of the world that is planning to offer this innovative transportation technology by 2025.
Mr. Bansal, delivering the inaugural address at India’s first Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) conference said, “eVTOL’s future is not as far as it seems, it is much closer than what it appears, we are in 2023 and in 2025 this global dream will become a reality and India very much wants to be part of this global initiative.”
AAM is an air transportation system that moves people and cargo between short distances, otherwise not served or underserved by aviation using eVTOL. eVTOL are also known as electric air taxi’s and countries like Singapore, UAE, France, Germany, UK and US have already announced their plans to launch these air taxis by 2025.
The BETA ALIA-250 EVA electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft during a test flight at the Westchester County Airport (HPN) in West Harrison, New York, U.S., on February 14, 2023.
Mr. Bansal said that the eVTOL’s in India should be an industry-led initiative and asked the industry to give feedback on how to implement the eVTOL ecosystem in the country.
“We want to know what you (industry) want from us. What is it you want from the air traffic management as there is a lot of talk about manned and unmanned vehicles. We also want to know what is happening globally; are there some protocols? What will be the responsibility of the DGCA, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and so on,” Mr. Bansal said.
Short-haul air mobility services is next big thing
Amit Dutta, chairman, CII Task Force on Advanced Air Mobility, said that short-haul air mobility services are the next big disruption waiting to happen.
“As our country is transforming from India living in villages to over 50% of population in urban centers in the foreseeable future, traditional mobility platforms on terra firma would be grossly insufficient. Short-haul air mobility services are the next big disruption waiting to happen,” said Mr Dutta.
He added that operating electric craft is less expensive, much quieter and safer and they also address sustainability with regard to overall environmental footprint when compared to traditional helicopters.
