“If aerospace is expensive, it’s because it has been developed on the wrong side of the planet. That’s what it is; we just got to call it out.”

That’s Satya Chakravarthy, founder and CEO of The ePlane Company, India’s first private entity to have a design-certified electric plane nearing prototype, at a fraction of the cost of any aerospace venture. At the prototype facility in Chennai, specialists are layering composites on the front wing of an aircraft. Next would be the rear wing and parts of the fuselage. In about two months, the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft prototype will be ready for further certifications.

On a late July afternoon, the ePlane shopfloor is noiseless—it’s electric flying machines, after all—and the ground staff look minimal and busy. The frugal setup hides the grand ambition behind trying to be the “ubiquitous” ride-hailing service in the sky. (The registered name of the company is Ubifly Technologies.)

An aerospace engineering professor at IIT Madras, Chakravarthy is the rare academic who’s building pretty much every part of aerospace activity—plane, satellite, rocket, engines, working with various startups. At ePlane, he’s also in the pilot’s seat—a chunkier challenge. As his colleagues say, he wants to “democratise” flying for average Uber-riding or ambulance-seeking Indians in traffic-choked cities.

Flying is facing a blastoff. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of private jets registered in India grewThe EconomistThe new private jet pecking order by a quarter to 168, tripling the monthly private flights to 2,400, the highest in the Asian region.

For civil aviation though, a Wright Brothers’ moment is imminent. At least 1,100 eVTOL designs are registered globally. From airlines to aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus to automotive giants, all are zipping off to build short-haul electric planes that can ferry people and cargo.

Last week, Maruti-Suzuki’s board approvedNews18From Cars To Drones, Air Taxis: Maruti Suzuki To Expand Into Future Mobility a plan to enter the air-mobility space, earlier formalised in Japan by its parent Suzuki Corporation and eVTOL company Skydrive for manufacturing electric planes.

Indigo Airlines’ parent Interglobe Enterprises has partnered with Archer Aviation, America’s most-funded eVTOL company backed by United Airlines, to launch an air service in India.