Hyderabad, Telangana, January 29, 2026: Roundtable dialogue on ‘Superior Air Mobility – India’s Skyward Arc: Accelerating AAM from Imaginative and prescient 2047 to Actuality’ at Wings India 2026 held at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad on Thursday, January 29, 2026. Photograph: SIDDHANT THAKUR/The Hindu. |Photograph Credit score: Siddhant Thakur
Superior Air Mobility (AAM) is not a distant ambition tied to Imaginative and prescient 2047, however a transition that has already begun, Civil Aviation Secretary Sameer Kumar Sinha stated at Wings India 2026 on Thursday, January 29.
Talking at a session entitled India’s Skyward Arc: Accelerating AAM from Imaginative and prescient 2047 to ActualitySinha framed this debate as an pressing coverage and ecological problem quite than futuristic hypothesis. He stated superior air mobility is among the most enjoyable frontiers within the world aviation trade.
He stated electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown platforms (eVTOLs), that are designed for low passenger masses and might function with out further runways, have the potential to remodel city transport, emergency companies, logistics and enterprise connectivity. “For India, this know-how is of strategic significance. As city congestion and infrastructure constraints improve, superior air mobility has the potential to enhance floor transport by enabling cleaner, quieter and extra environment friendly journey,” he added.
He revealed {that a} current evaluation inside the ministry concluded that India’s regulatory and coverage framework for eVTOL and AAM is basically in place and at par with developments in Western markets.
Vertiports, permissions, and concrete puzzles
Whereas the coverage framework could also be evolving, trade gamers pressured that implementation will decide the tempo of adoption.
Kanika Tekriwal, Chairperson of FICCI Superior Air Mobility Taskforce and Co-Founder and CEO of JetSetGo, emphasised the necessity for early engagement with state governments. “At present, 29 permits are required for a helicopter to take off, involving fireplace, ambulance, police and district administration. It will be not possible to duplicate that mannequin for all eVTOL actions,” she stated.
Clem Newton-Brown, Director and CEO of SkySportz, warned that the trade can’t rely solely on current airports and helipads to supply aviation on demand. “This revolution depends on a dense community of modular and reasonably priced vertiports that resemble bus stops greater than conventional airports,” he added. He additionally recognized three operational dangers that require consideration: downwash and outwash hazards, takeoff noise, and battery fires that require full submersion to include.
economics of adoption
Amit Dutta, chairman of the CII Activity Drive on Brief-haul Air Mobility, cautioned in opposition to underestimating client adoption timelines. “As per present assumptions, a 15-minute journey with 4 passengers may price round Rs 9,000 per seat. In a price-sensitive market like India, optimization of your complete worth chain will probably be necessary to make this mannequin commercially viable,” he stated.
