This week, the Andhra Pradesh government has tied up with Bengaluru-based Sarla Aviation to build India’s largest electric air taxi manufacturing factory at Anantapur.
The Accel-funded Sarla Aviation signed the pact with Andhra Pradesh Airport Development Corporation Ltd (APADCL) at the CII Summit held at Visakhapatnam on November 14-15. It is India’s first giga-scale electric air taxi manufacturing ecosystem, Minister N Lokesh Naidu said.
According to APADCL, Sarla Aviation will set up a manufacturing hub ‘Sky Factory’ with an investment of Rs 1,300 crore. Officials claim that there are plans to build a six-seater electric aircraft that can take off vertically and land without requiring a runway, hover, and cruise at good speeds, and can be used as an intercity air taxi at the centre.
What is the new air taxi manufacturing hub
In the first phase, Sarla will develop a 150-acre manufacturing facility with state-of-the-art research labs and aviation development centres, production lines, along with a testing facility — including a runway with an investment of Rs 330 crore. The facility at Thimmasamudram in Kalyandurg Mandal will be equipped with cutting-edge production lines, R&D centres, composite labs, and a dedicated 2 km runway for DGCA-certified flight testing.
The manufacturing hub is expected to be used for building, testing, certifying, and maintaining eVTOL aircraft. Testing is expected to start in 2027 and commercial production in 2029, with future plans to expand to an additional 350 acres in Phase 2.
Is it the first of its kind
While it is India’s first, similar hubs exist elsewhere. The upcoming Anantapur facility will be modelled on global advanced-air-mobility hubs like California and Munich. Once fully operational, the Sky Factory will be one of the world’s largest eVTOL production hubs, with the capacity to manufacture up to 1,000 next-gen aircraft annually — including flagship platforms such as the ‘Shunya’ hybrid VTOL and a range of indigenously produced electrical harness systems, landing-gear assemblies, and advanced composite structures – officials said.
Founded in 2023 by veterans of the global eVTOL industry, Sarla Aviation is designing a six-seater electric flying taxi that aims to shrink commute times in India’s busiest metros. The company, backed by private equity investor Accel, targets commercial operations by 2029.
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Speaking about the partnership at the CII Summit, Rakesh Gaonkar, co-founder and CTO of Sarla Aviation, said: “With the world’s biggest sky factory, we want to make India the nerve centre for the next era of flight. This giga facility will shape the aircraft of the future, create thousands of high-skill jobs, and establish India as a global force in sustainable aerial mobility.”
The goal, he said, was to “let India design, build, test, fly and operate the world’s most advanced eVTOL systems from one integrated campus”.
Why Andhra Pradesh
The Andhra Pradesh government has been making a massive investment push, promoting the Rayalaseema region with its proximity to Bengaluru as an aviation hub for the manufacture of aircraft and drones; showcasing inland waterways in the Godavari and Krishna river basins; and its vast coastal and maritime infrastructure.
Sarla Aviation’s proposal was cleared in an effort to develop Anantapur and Kurnool as aviation hubs. As a part of this strategy, the Andhra Pradesh government also signed a pact with Carbonatik LLC, a USA-based global conglomerate with a diverse portfolio spanning aviation, energy, infrastructure, maritime, mining, and technology sectors.
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Carbonatik will invest about Rs 5,300 crore under the Inland Waterways and Urban Water Metro project, which involves the development of integrated inland waterways for cargo and roll on/roll off services for cargo and passengers across various rivers and canals in Andhra Pradesh.
This initiative will connect key industrial hubs with major ports. Additionally, the project will include the development of an Urban Water Metro in Amaravati and Vijayawada, which is a greener, low-cost transportation solution.
Carbonatik will also invest Rs 7,100 crore to establish India’s largest Aviation MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) facility designed to accommodate both wide- and narrow-bodied aircraft from national and international airlines, a cargo terminal facility, a Flight Training Organisation (FTO), and operations & maintenance (O&M) service at Kurnool airport. The investment will also support the manufacturing of lightweight aircraft, electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft and advanced drones at Kurnool Airport, along with the development of advanced flight simulators at Amaravati.
There is also a proposal to develop a greenfield port – a new port built on a previously undeveloped site — along with a yacht manufacturing facility and a yacht yard along the Andhra Pradesh coast. However, no site has been identified yet.
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According to officials of the Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Ltd, Carbonatik tie-up is crucial for the development of Andhra Pradesh’s aviation sector given that it brings cutting-edge innovations such as Urban Air Mobility (UAM), eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft), and drones “to alleviate the growing challenges of urban transportation”.
