Electric air taxi services soon to become a reality in India

India's urban transportation sector is ripe for disruption.

The InterGlobe Enterprises, a leading travel and hospitality conglomerate on Thursday (Oct. 10) signed an agreement with electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) developer, Archer Aviation to launch electric air taxi services in India.

The partnership will operate an all-electric air taxi service in 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and clearances. As part of the deal, the partnership will finance the purchase of up to 200 of Archer's Midnight aircraft for the India operations and will jointly work with business partners to operate Archer aircraft, finance and build vertiport infrastructure, and train pilots and other personnel.

"We are excited at this new opportunity of bringing an effective, futuristic, and sustainable transport solution by introducing Archer's electric aircraft to India," said Rahul Bhatia, Group MD of InterGlobe.

Archer's Midnight aircraft is a four-passenger eVTOL aircraft designed to perform speedy back-to-back flights with minimal charge time.

"The goal is for a passenger on an InterGlobe-Archer flight to be able to fly the 27-km Delhi trip from Connaught Place to Gurugram, typically taking 60 to 90 minutes by car, in approximately 7 minutes," Archer Aviation said in a statement.

In addition to urban air taxi services, the two parties plan to pursue a wide spectrum of use cases for electric aircraft in India, including cargo, logistics, medical, and emergency services, as well as private company and charter services.

"At Archer, our goal is to make cities greener, smarter, more efficient places to live," said Nikhil Goel, Chief Commercial Office of Archer Aviation. "We couldn't be more excited to be partnering with Rahul and the InterGlobe team to bring our Midnight aircraft to Indian cities and fundamentally transform mobility across the country, with the goal of starting with Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru."