Flying taxi startup ePlane Company to begin manned trials by April 2025, in process to secure key DGCA, EU certifications

Professor Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy of IIT Madras is a co-founder in at least six startups including ePlane Company and Agnikul Cosmos

Flying taxi startup ePlane Company is set to develop its first manned prototype of its e-VTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing) vehicles and begin manned trials by April 2025.

Over the last couple of years, the IIT Madras-incubated startup has been working on these e-VTOLs, capable of transporting humans.

"We are working towards the first manned prototype by April next year. Okay. That's our current target. The second prototype then should actually come fast behind by about September and then the third one by about December next year," Chakravarthy told Moneycontrol.

As of now, Professor Satya Chakravarthy, the startup's CEO said that they are currently in the process of securing necessary permits from the Ministry of Civil Aviation for conducting these trials.

In September 2024, the Ministry of Civil Aviation released specialised requirements that vertical take-off and landing capable aircraft (VCA) would have to adhere to secure type certification (TC). A TC verifies the airworthiness of an aircraft/drone's design and all of its parts and so on.

"We had already applied for our type certificate of our aircraft earlier and now we are reapplying under the VCA. And we have already been going through our propeller certification under the EASA (European Air Safety Agency) regulation certification norms," Chakravarthy said.

Apart from that, the startup's CEO also said that they are also in process of applying for acrobat certification.

In January 2022, the startup announced that it has raised $5 million in pre-series A funding led by deep-tech venture capitalist Speciale Invest and clean mobility fund Micelio.

The startup is in the process of securing more funding to develop its product further, and also to support the many key approvals that it would require from various regulator such as DGCA, EASA and so on.

The startup's CEO and founder professor Chakravarthy is also a co-founder in at least five more IIT Madras-incubated deep tech startups. They include space tech startup Agnikul Cosmos, micro gas turbine maker Aerostrovilos Energy; TuTr Hyperloop, a deep-tech startup dedicated to creating hyperloop technologies, and X2Fuels, a company working on thermochemical technologies.

He is also involved in the development of two more startups.