InterGlobe Enterprises, a leading travel and hospitality conglomerate in India and parent company of Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo, has joined forces with Archer Aviation, a leader in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, to bring all-electric air taxis to the skies over India’s busiest cities.
The companies have announced that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the goal of launching and operating an all-electric air taxi service in India, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals and clearances.
According to a joint statement issued by the companies, the parties have entered into the MoU with the aim of providing a revolutionary transportation solution for the country, improving urban mobility with a safe, sustainable, and low-noise electric air taxi service that is cost-competitive with ground transportation.
The parties intend to work with select in-country business partners to operate Archer’s aircraft, finance and build vertiport infrastructure, and train pilots and other personnel needed for these operations. The partnership also plans to finance the purchase of up to 200 of Archer’s Midnight aircraft for the India operations.
Archer’s Midnight aircraft is a piloted, four-passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights.
The goal is for a passenger on an InterGlobe/Archer flight to be able to fly the 27km (17 miles trip from Connaught Place in downtown Delhi to Gurugram in approximately 7 minutes. The same journey by car takes between 60 and 90 minutes by car.
In addition to urban air taxi services, the parties plan to pursue various other use cases for electric aircraft in India. Such opportunities include cargo, logistics, medical and emergency services, and private charter services.
What are the new partners saying?
Rahul Bhatia, Group Managing Director of InterGlobe, said, “Over the last two decades, InterGlobe has been involved in providing safe, efficient, and affordable transportation to hundreds of millions of Indians across the country. We are excited at this new opportunity of bringing an effective, futuristic and sustainable transport solution by introducing Archer’s electric aircraft to India.”
Meanwhile, Archer Aviation’s CEO and Founder, Adam Goldstein, said, “I founded Archer with the vision to help decongest the world’s largest cities. India is one of, if not the largest, opportunity for eVTOL aircraft utilization in the world, as it is home to the world’s largest population of over 1.4 billion people, and its largest cities face some of the greatest congestion challenges in the world. Archer’s all-electric Midnight aircraft is designed to provide a revolutionary transportation solution that can help address these congestion issues.”
Nikhil Goel, Chief Commercial Officer of Archer Aviation, added: “At Archer, our goal is to make cities greener, smarter, more efficient places to live. 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.”
The World Bank projects that the urban population will more than double by 2050, with short road commutes taking up to 2 hours in many of the world’s largest cities. Archer’s electric air taxis are designed to provide a safe and sustainable, low-noise urban mobility solution for India as the country races towards becoming a $5 trillion economy.