New Delhi: The parent company of Indigo InterGlobe Enterprises and US-based Archer Aviation will launch an all-electric air taxi service in India in 2026. It will carry passengers from Connaught Place in New Delhi to Gurugram, Haryana in just 7 minutes.
Archer Aviation will supply at least 200 vertical takeoffs and landing (eVTOL) aircraft which can carry 4 passengers besides a pilot and operate just like helicopters but with more safety and less noise. These 200 planes each having 12 rotors will cost around $1 Billion. Apart from Delhi, the joint venture between Archer Aviation and InterGlobe will launch similar services in Mumbai and Bengaluru to begin with.
The cost of the seven-minute flight operated with the company’s five-seater eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft from Connaught Place to Gurugram in Haryana could be around ₹ 2,000 to 3,000, according to Archer Aviation executives. Archer Aviation Founder and CEO Adam Goldstein on Friday said that discussions are in progress with the US regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the certification process for its aircraft is at an advanced stage.
The certification is expected next year and once that is in place, the process will be initiated for the certification by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). During an interview with news agency PTI in New Delhi Goldstein said the company expects to start flights in India in 2026 and aims to have 200 of its Midnight planes for the operations.
In the initial process, Archer Aviation will be focusing on the major Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The flight duration will be around 7 minutes from Connaught Place in New Delhi to Gurugram, Haryana and the cost will be around Rs 2000-3000. According to Goldstein, in a car, for the 27-kilometre distance, it would take around 90 minutes and the cost would be about ₹ 1,500.
The pilot and four passengers will be allowed to board the five-seater Midnight aircraft. According to Chief Commercial Officer Nikhil Goel, the plane’s six battery packs would allow it to be fully charged in 30 to 40 minutes. A minute of charging will correspond to one minute of flight time. Final details of Archer Aviation’s joint venture with international firms are being worked out.
The US-based business is also in talks on infrastructure and other flight operations-related issues with a number of towns. Goel stated that the joint venture may select partners for the eVTOL operations in India and that it will use the entire might of the conglomerate InterGlobe.
The amount of land needed for launchpads, vertiports, and other infrastructure needed to begin flying operations is also a topic of discussion. This year, Archer Aviation will construct a manufacturing plant in the United States. Initially, the facility will be able to produce up to 650 planes, with the potential to create up to 2,000 planes.
In response to a question about whether the business would consider producing the planes in India in the future, Goldstein said that it would. Indian travel company InterGlobe Enterprises and Archer Aviation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last year. IndiGo is a part of the MoU. Many nations, including the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel, India, the United States, Japan, Australia, Brazil, and France, aim to employ air taxis.
