Air Taxi market to soar in India with Aeroberm vertiport network plans

Skyportz released new analysis identifying Delhi and India as a critical global market for air taxi deployment. The Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Vertiport Market Study, suggests India can develop into one of the world’s largest passenger air taxi markets over the next two decades. Delhi stands out as a high-potential launch city, with strong demand fundamentals and clear infrastructure needs as networks scale.

Clem Newton-Brown, CEO of Skyportz commented: “Delhi’s numbers make one thing clear: this is not a small boutique market. Our modelling points to thousands of vertipads, tens of millions of passengers and sustained long-term infrastructure demand. That scale requires modular, affordable systems designed for networks such as the Aeroberm. With Delhi as a lead market, India has an opportunity to help shape how city-scale AAM infrastructure is deployed. We look forward to working with the DCGA and local air taxi developers.” 

Skyportz’s modelling indicates the enormous possibilities of AAM in Delhi and India more broadly, and forecasts the potential for:

·        Around 40 million passenger trips per year in Delhi by 2045, and 200-250 million across India

·        Approximately US$400 million in annual passenger revenues in Delhi by 2045, with an indicative extrapolation to about US$2.0-2.5 billion in annual passenger revenues across India by 2045.

·        About 10,000 to 15,000 vertipads across India by 2045 (indicative), anchored on a Delhi requirement of around 2,200 vertipads

The report contends that Delhi’s position as a major AAM market in 2045 is driven by a number of factors, including:

·        The long average commute distances and low peak-hour travel speeds, which make the time savings of air taxi travel significant.

·        The high reliance on road-based transport, which means alternatives are less readily available and air taxi services can displace higher commuter volumes.

·        The growing wealth of Delhi (and Indian) residents and higher proportion of residents who could afford air taxi services over time

·        The relatively low costs operating costs of air taxi services, with both lower capital requirements to establish networks and lower ongoing costs compared to other major cities

Skyportz’s modelling shows that as air taxi costs fall, urban commuter services and intercity routes become increasingly competitive, accelerating demand for infrastructure distributed throughout the metropolitan area rather than concentrated at a small number of hubs. Skyportz’s Aeroberm modular vertipad system is designed to support network-scale deployment in high-density cities such as Delhi. The system is intended to enable:

·        Rapid installation of ground-level and rooftop vertipads

·        Management of downwash safety, noise and operational performance

·        Incremental expansion from dozens to hundreds, and ultimately thousands, of pads as aircraft fleets grow

Robert Bassey, former FAA national lead for vertiport design in the USA and now a strategic adviser to Skyportz, said the Aeroberm system is being developed with global regulatory acceptance in mind. “Having worked inside the FAA, I understand what regulators need to see before new infrastructure can scale - clear performance evidence, defined operating assumptions and a credible inspection and lifecycle framework,” Bassey said. “Our focus at Skyportz is on building a modular vertipad product that can be evaluated consistently across markets and accepted by regulators worldwide. India is a critical advanced air mobility market, and I look forward to constructive engagement with DGCA and industry as safe, scalable frameworks continue to take shape.”

Skyportz CEO, Clem Newton-Brown is in India for the Wings Airshow in Hyderabad and is meeting with air safety regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation and local air taxi developers such as ePlane, Sarla, Nalwa and BluJ Aero.