India could have flying taxis in the next four years as Indian-American businessman Chirinjeev Kathuria has announced that his company plans to set up a manufacturing unit in India along with the US. Kathuria‘s Jaunt Air Mobility has tied up with L&T Technology Services to develop urban air mobility (UAM) solution in India.
The company has also got an order for 250 air taxis from an Indian chopper operator, a TOI report said.
Jaunt Air also manufactures the RQ-35 Heidrun intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone currently being used in war -hit Ukraine. Kathuria said that these drones could also be made in India from next year for the defence market, the doctor-turned-businessman told TOI.
“The first manufacturing unit is in the US and the second will be in India. We hope to start manufacturing them in both the countries by 2025. Heidrun drone production could start in India from next year itself. Our plans for India are immediate and not some distant future,” the Delhi-born businessman said.
“In 1999, I started a commercial company to launch and fund manned space programmes. The foray into unmanned aerial vehicles was made seven years back. But whatever I did, my heart has always been in India. In mid-1990s, I helped set up the first US investment bank office in India and served in Morgan Stanley here. Even now I keep asking myself can we do something in India,” Dr Kathuria told TOI.
As per TOI report the company plan to start air taxi services in Canada and the US by 2026-27.
