Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Devanahalli, Bengaluru.
Credit: DH Photo/S K Dinesh
Bengaluru: Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) and Sarla Aviation, a city-based startup, have signed a collaboration agreement to develop electric air taxi services for airport transfers.
Named in honour of Sarla Thakral, the first Indian woman to obtain a pilot’s licence in 1936 at age 21, Sarla Aviation is set to transform urban mobility with its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) technology.
Sarla Aviation plans to provide air taxi services from Electronics City to the airport for Rs 1,700, with an estimated commute time of just 19 minutes. The company claims its eVTOL aircraft are designed for short urban commutes between 20 to 40 kilometres, with a maximum range of up to 160 kilometres.
According to Sarla Aviation, their aircraft is "100 times safer than a helicopter", with multiple redundancy systems built into critical components. “Helicopters typically have up to 100 single points of failure between the motor and rotor, but our system has zero,” said Adrian Schmidt, co-founder, and CEO. “Our aircraft features seven propellers, so if one fails, the others compensate.”
As part of the partnership, BIAL and Sarla Aviation will work on developing airport infrastructure, operational models, and user flow maps to facilitate seamless eVTOL services between the airport and key city locations. Schmidt emphasised that safety is a core value: “Everything that could potentially go wrong in our aircraft has three to five layers of redundancy to address it.”
Schmidt also noted that Karnataka’s building regulations require helipads on buildings over 60 metres tall, creating readily available infrastructure for air taxi services. He praised the support from state and central government authorities and expects the air taxi service to be operational within two to three years.
With declining costs in battery and powertrain technology and improving capacity, Schmidt expressed confidence in meeting the proposed fare. “Based on recent trends, we are optimistic we can deliver on our advertised pricing,” he added.