Chennai's ePlane Signs Noida Airport MoU to Take eVTOL Air Taxis to Airports
IIT Madras-based ePlane will trial vertiports, charging and eVTOL operations at Noida International Airport, as it targets 80 aircraft by 2028 from its Thaiyur plant near Chennai.
Chennai's ePlane Company has set out how it wants to make money from its electric air taxis. Ubifly Technologies, its parent, is targeting airport-to-airport transit, intra-city commutes and air ambulance services, and is lining up partners to build the vertiports these aircraft need. The first of those partners is Noida International Airport, which has signed an MoU with the IIT Madras-based deep-tech startup.
What Noida is giving it
The airport will set aside space for trial runs, vertiports and charging stations, and adjust its standard operating procedures to fit eVTOL services. The two sides also plan to work out regulatory SOPs, vertiport management systems and the rest of the operating setup needed to fly ePlane's e200X.
Founder and director Dr Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy's argument is that the aircraft is only one piece. Ground infrastructure, regulation and operating procedures have to be built alongside it. The plan is to test the operating model with drone trials first, then move to piloted e200X flights, so the airport is ready by the time the aircraft is certified.
The Chennai side
ePlane builds its aircraft at Thaiyur, on the outskirts of Chennai, and is aiming for an initial scale of 80 aircraft by 2028. It received about Rs 285 crore as optionally convertible debt under the RDI programme, and recently showed a full-scale prototype of its passenger aircraft.
Why I'm watching it
A lot of eVTOL talk stops at the aircraft. ePlane is doing the unglamorous work of vertiports, procedures and regulator-ready operations before certification arrives. If that sequencing holds, Tamil Nadu ends up with an aerospace manufacturer that has routes waiting for it, not just a prototype.
Source: Times of India — ePlane eyes airport & intra-city commute