Vjaitra Air Mobility CEO Outlines Hydrogen-Electric eVTOL Plans, With $300 Million in LOIs and a Dubai Base

Ratandeep Tripathi, CEO and MD of Vjaitra Air Mobility, spent more than 24 years in military aviation before moving into India's emerging eVTOL industry. Vjaitra is based in Noida and is developing hydrogen-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. In an interview, Tripathi said the company is pursuing patents, international partnerships and commercial opportunities ranging from underserved Indian communities to markets in Europe and the Gulf.

Tripathi said the company has signed letters of intent (LOIs) worth over $300 million and holds a granted design patent. He said it has received incubation and technical validation from the innovation centres of IIT Delhi and IIM Lucknow, and has DPIIT recognition. He said Vjaitra built the regulatory pathway into its aircraft architecture from the first sketch, treating certification and airworthiness as a design input from the start.

On the market, Tripathi described India as a manufacturing base today and a potential lead market over a longer horizon. He cited the National Green Hydrogen Mission and GAIL Pankh, a strategic partnership with Jio-BP (Reliance group) intended to de-risk hydrogen infrastructure supply. He said near-term willingness to pay for hydrogen-electric VTOL is currently stronger in Europe and the Gulf, where advanced air mobility regulation is further along, and that Vjaitra is building a second base in the DIFC in Dubai.

Tripathi said he sees last-mile connectivity for underserved regions, including access to healthcare, emergency response and freight, as a bigger and more durable market than urban air taxis, which depend on dense infrastructure and certification maturity that are still years away. He also pointed to the Research Development and Innovation Scheme as a source of long-tenure, low-cost capital for capital-intensive aircraft R&D, while saying he still contends with a perception that India does not do hardware.