Indian eVTOL Developers Target Air Ambulances Before Passenger Air Taxis
Why It MattersMedical transport may become the first commercial proving ground for Indian electric aircraft, giving regulators safety data and the industry operating experience before passenger air taxi services launch.
Several Indian developers of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are starting with air ambulances and treating passenger air taxis as a later step. The ePlane Company, an IIT Madras-incubated startup, plans to certify an air ambulance first, followed by a two-passenger taxi and eventually a four-passenger version. The ambulance configuration would carry a pilot, a paramedic and a patient. The company's founder has said ePlane can scale up production more organically with air ambulances than by moving straight into air taxis.
In February 2025, ePlane agreed to supply 788 air ambulances, in a deal valued at over $1 billion, to ICATT, an air ambulance provider that plans to deploy them across all Indian districts. The pact is preliminary and carries no binding conditions. A senior Sarla Aviation executive said the company has signed agreements with hospital group Aster DM Healthcare and with air ambulance operators Blue Dot and Aeromed.
On regulation, ePlane became the first Indian private company to have its electric aircraft accepted for type certification by the DGCA under eVTOL rules issued in September 2024. The company says the DGCA has also developed rules covering vertiports, pilot training, maintenance, air operator permits, air traffic control and test pilots.
Timelines are long and funding is tight. ePlane is in the second of four certification phases and targets flight testing of a certification-conforming prototype in April 2027. It has spent about $20 million so far and is seeking another $60–70 million to reach air ambulance certification, and estimates it will need $160–170 million in total to certify its variants and begin commercial operations in five cities. Sarla Aviation has begun ground testing of its air taxi ahead of a 2028 launch.
