The emergence of electric aviation with eVTOL vehicles is expected to significantly reduce the carbon footprint, noise and cost of flying, making it more accessible to the masses.
To enable the adoption of Electric Vertical Aircrafts (EVAs), a comprehensive infrastructure and environment must be established. Key areas of focus include the development of vertiports, manufacturing facilities, pilot training, and the formulation of relevant laws and policies. Collaboration between private players and the government is crucial to building a robust urban air mobility (UAM) ecosystem that can support EVAs when they are ready for commercial usage.
“Overall, the combination of India’s unique challenges and market potential makes it an ideal landscape for BLADE India’s active collaboration with EVA partners in building the UAM ecosystem,” Amit Dutt, Managing Director, BLADE India tells Huma Siddiqui.
Following are excerpts
How do you perceive the current state of the UAM industry in India? What are the opportunities and challenges?
India’s urban population is on the rise, with Mumbai being the world’s third-most crowded city, experiencing significant congestion that costs the city 121 hours per year. The country’s top four metro cities alone incur a staggering cost of Rs 1.5 lakh crore due to congestion, highlighting the need for alternative transportation solutions. Currently, India has only 280 commercial helicopters, further emphasizing the immense potential for UAM in the country. Alongside the need for sustainability and the growing urban population, there is a scarcity of available road space. This, coupled with the projected increase in spending habits, presents a fantastic opportunity for UAM in India. The market for drones alone is expected to reach Rs 500 billion in the next five years, and the Aviation Ministry has shown a strong emphasis on air mobility.
What are the key factors driving the adoption of urban air mobility in India?
The adoption of UAM in India is driven by several key factors:
Traffic congestion: UAM offers faster point-to-point transportation, bypassing ground-level traffic in congested cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi.
Accessibility: Circuitous roads and difficult terrains are a major cause of inaccessibility. The chardham yatra for example would take almost 15+ hours on the road from Dehradun to Badrinath would be cut short significantly through helicopters and in the future EVAs.
Efficient travel: Our business travelers between Mumbai-Pune who usually take 5 hours on the road take a BLADE since the journey is cut short to just 40 minutes, and we take off from central locations like Juhu, KP Annexe, making it more convenient.
Infrastructure challenges: Airports are moving further away from the cities which has led to more traffic like in the case of Bangalore. Also, unlike airports that need large spaces to build, vertiports for EVAs don’t need large chunks of land.
Last mile connectivity: UAM bridges the gap between transportation hubs and final destinations, providing seamless connectivity.
Emergency medical services: UAM facilitates the swift delivery of emergency supplies to critical locations, enhancing healthcare services.
Collaboration and partnerships are crucial in the UAM ecosystem. How are you engaging with stakeholders to build a supportive network for your operations?
In March this year, Hunch Mobility, Hunch Ventures’ mobility division, partnered with CII to host India’s first Advanced Short Haul Air Mobility (ASHA) conference in Bengaluru. ASHA aims to educate the Indian market about the developments in the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) ecosystem. The conference was attended by the Minister of Civil Aviation and Director General of DGCA. During this 2 day event, the company inked key MoUs with JAUNT, BETA Technologies and Skyport to expand UAM operations in India by purchasing electric vertical and take-off landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
What steps is your company taking to ensure that urban air mobility solutions in India are environmentally friendly and contribute to reducing carbon emissions?
Looking at the traffic congestion which leads to high pollution today in the metropolitan cities, it is important to consider sustainable and environment friendly air mobility solutions for the nation. We are committed to reducing travel friction by enabling time-efficient air transportation alternatives to some of the most congested and inaccessible ground routes in India.
We’ve partnered with BETA Technologies, JAUNT Air Mobility, Eve Mobility and Skyport. With BETA Technologies’ all-electric, zero operational emissions aircraft, we can provide a short-hop solution to decongesting the central city and surrounding areas. JAUNT Air Mobility, a global aerospace company, would provide aircrafts that combines helicopter and fixed-wing flight capabilities, highlighting safety, low noise and operational efficiencies. The company is one of the only eVTOL players aligned with current transport category certification rules.
Partnering with such renowned international urban planners and infrastructure providers would help the company to improve urban air mobility ecosystem in India by designing and optimizing landing infrastructure. This shall further minimise the environmental impact of air mobility operations including strategically locating helipads or vertiports to minimize noise and disturbance to local ecosystems and communities.
Looking ahead, what is your vision for the future of UAM in India?
The industry is poised to undergo significant evolution in response to India’s burgeoning urbanization and the pressing need for efficient urban air transportation. With huge traffic congestion, the development of electric air mobility has emerged as a crucial milestone in the aviation sector. The once-distant dreams of electric-powered taxis, flying cars are transitioning into reality through UAM initiatives.
Numerous investors and international manufacturing players are actively exploring the Indian market seeing the huge potential of this industry. Cities like Dubai, Singapore, Linz, and LA have already outlined roadmaps for UAM implementation and the use of EVAs to alleviate traffic congestion. The adoption of EVAs will democratize air travel further. Governments and organizations are making extensive efforts to propel UAM as the next major disruption, with over US$5 billion invested globally in the development of EVA prototypes.
We have partnered with multiple players in the UAM space, right from leading EVA manufacturers such as EVE, BETA, Jaunt to Skyport to ensure India is at par in reaping the benefits of UAM.
Update on the contract between the partnership of BLADE and Eve, for the collaboration to expand the UAM ecosystem in India.
Last year in September, BLADE India announced its strategic partnership with Eve Mobility to expand the Urban Air Mobility Ecosystem in India. The strategic partnership included a non-binding order of up to 200 electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL” or Electric Vertical Aircraft, “EVA”) vehicles, service and support, and Eve’s Urban Air Traffic Management (“UATM”) software solution.
Through this successful partnership BLADE India allows to leverage Eve’s deep expertise in not just EVA design but also in the infrastructure required to support UAM which would help in reducing the travel congestion in India. The initial order will allow Eve to enter into service in India and further develop the ecosystem according to the community’s needs. This partnership would offer people of India a zero-emission UAM solution in the future that will be quiet, efficient, and accessible to the people. The emergence of electric aviation with eVTOL vehicles is expected to significantly reduce the carbon footprint, noise and cost of flying, making it more accessible to the masses. Together with our partners at Eve, we are also collaborating on simulations, consumer knowledge, EVA charging stations, and other essential ancillaries needed to enable EVAs in India.