Sarla Aviation, a Bengaluru-based aviation startup, unveiled the full-scale prototype of an electric air taxi that can carry six passengers and a pilot.
It is expected to be production-ready by 2028.
Sarla Aviation—named after Sarla Thakral, the first female pilot in India—was founded by Shivam Chauhan, Rakesh Gaonkar, and Adrian Schmidt, all of whom have backgrounds in the flying taxi industry. Schmidt, the CEO, is a German, while the other two are expats who returned to the country.
Electric air taxis are much fancied in the aviation industry as they are designed to be faster, quieter and more convenient than helicopters. The Boeing-backed Wisk Aero developed the first all-electric, four-seater, autonomous air taxi, and it is working to get approval from the FAA. California-based Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation are also working on approvals from the FAA.
China’s self-flying EHang completed the first electric air taxi flight in Brazil in October 2024.
Like them, Sarla’s Shunya is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. It has six propellers, three on each side. The makers say all of them have redundancy (backup) for extra safety, and the battery pack also has backup.
It has four, double-isolated battery packs that power seven electric motors. It can go up to 250 kmph and fly up to 160km, but it is optimised for 20-30km trips.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is working on a regulatory framework for air taxis and has been rolling out the required provisions needed to launch them by 2026. A few months ago, it issued airworthiness criteria for type certification of vertical take-off and landing capable aircraft.
IndiGo has placed an order for up to 200 Midnight air taxis from Archer Aviation. Midnight will first enter commercial service in the US soon, and India could be second.
