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A journey from Connaught Place in Delhi’s central business district to the heart of Gurgaon can take more than an hour by car, depending on the time one travels and yet thousands of people take it every day.
Now, California-based EVTOL company Archer Aviation says that by 2026 , it will bring down the trip time to seven minutes in their air taxi if you are ready to shell out Rs 3,000, or five times that of an Uber.
EVTOLs, or air taxis, take off and land vertically, just like a conventional helicopter. But since they’re electric, they produce fewer emissions and they’re potentially much quieter.
The electric power train enables the propulsion to be distributed across multiple small rotors, which rotate more slowly, rather than relying on a single fast rotor.
Archer has tied up with Interglobe Enterprise, the firm that owns IndiGo and is credited with bringing down the cost of air travel in India. And they plan to copy IndiGo’s model – increase the volume of trips to bring down the overall cost. India is the third country besides USA and UAE where Archer plans to start
“One of the things that makes it easier to bring down the variable cost in India is due to affordable maintenance and pilot cost. And then, the fast developing pace of India provides so much opportunity to increase the number of trips. So, when you put it all together, I think we will be able to offer a price that is attractive to the masses over time, “Adam Goldstein, Archer’s founder and CEO, said in an interview.
The two companies will form a joint venture this year to operate 200 Midnight, a four-seater aircraft, which Goldstein says is in the final stage of approval from US aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
They have simultaneously started engaging with Indian regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and municipal bodies of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru which will be the first three cities they start business in.
DGCA is currently working on framing a policy for Urban Air Mobility which will be separate from drones. India’s current drone laws conform for aircraft weighing up to 500 kg only. An air taxi will weigh more than that and hence will require a separate policy, DGCA officials said.
Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had earlier said that air taxis will become a reality in the next 4-5 years in India.
“The FAA is considered a global standard for aviation regulation. So it is expected that once we get the FAA certification, it’ll be a relatively quick process to be able to get an approval from the local regulators,” Goldstein said.
Archer is one of the front runners among multiple companies that are planning to launch air taxis to cut down travel in congested metros across the world.
Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, airlines including Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo have altered flight paths to avoid Iranian airspace. The Civil Aviation Ministry has advised carriers to conduct their own risk assessments. The geopolitical situation may lead to longer routes, increased fuel costs, and potential airfare hikes for international flights.
Goldstein said that the reason their approval process has been faster as compared to rivals is because they have partnered with top tier avionics suppliers like Safran, Honeywell and Garmin instead of manufacturing new components themselves.
“80% of our components are sourced from leading aerospace suppliers with certification heritage, meaning that they are either already flying on other certified aircraft today, or that they are derived from designs which have been previously certified and FAA is already deeply familiar with these systems. This strategy has enabled us to rapidly mature Midnight’s design,” Goldstein said.
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