Bengaluru City-Airport Chopper To Cut Travel Time From 120 To 15 Minutes

Bengaluru: You can now take a chopper from Bengaluru airport to the city and avoid traffic. The time for the commute will come down to just 15 minutes from the current 120 minutes. 

Blade India has announced that it will start chopper services to ensure faster travel between Bengaluru and Kempegowda International Airport. 

The services will begin on October 10, five times a week. The price, per seat, is ₹ 3,250 (excluding taxes). The H125 DVG Airbus helicopter can fly with five to six passengers in one go between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd airport and Bengaluru airport.

The company added with the chopper service, commuters will be able to replace the "120-minute ride" in traffic to Bengaluru airport with a “15-minute” air ride.

“Fliers can skip the painful 120-minute commute to HAL in traffic and opt for a quick 15-minute flight instead,” said the official website. 

The company said it will add more routes subsequently. “Whitefield and Electronic City will be added,” it said.

Initially, Blade India will operate twice a day. The ride from Bengaluru to HAL airport is scheduled for 9 am. The return chopper will take off at 4:15 pm.

Blade India is a joint venture between BLADE Urban Air Mobility Inc, based in New York, and New Delhi-based Hunch Ventures. 

The company has partnered with Airbus and Eve Air Mobility for fleet expansion to ramp up its short-haul mobility service in India.

29/09/22 NDTV

Read More

India launches IOC-made indigenous piston aviation fuel

The government this week launched the indigenously-developed AVGAS 100 LL, a special aviation fuel for piston engine aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles developed by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) and produced at its Gujarat refinery.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, while launching the fuel at Hindon air base, said, "We are undergoing a remarkable transformation which is almost revolutionary. We are reducing dependence on imported fuels by promoting biofuel blending, green hydrogen, and introduction of electric vehicles."

Currently, India imports this product from European countries.

 Puri said that the launch of indigenous AVGAS 100 LL is important to serve the needs of a thriving aviation industry with increased footfall at airports, rise in the number of aircraft and Flying Training Organisations (FTOs).

Indian Oil Corporation chairman Shrikant Vaidya said: "Indian Oil is proud to introduce this specialised fuel by leveraging our refining strength and in-house expertise. In fact, the indigenous fuel is superior compared to the imported grades.

“The AV gas market is expected to grow from the current $1.92 billion to $2.71 billion by 2029. We plan to set up a new facility soon to target export opportunities, besides catering to the domestic demand. The superior quality we offer, combined with competitive pricing, will give us a significant edge in the global market and open a new chapter in India's journey of self-reliance."

The domestic production of AVGAS 100 LL, produced by Indian Oil at its Gujarat refinery. will make flying training more affordable in India, an official statement said.

28/09/22 ConstructionWorld.in

Read More

Air Taxis in India: Fly Blade joins hand with Eve Air Mobility to deploy 200 air taxis within 5 years

New Delhi: Within in the next five years, Indians could see 200 air taxis flying in the sky. Gurugram-based Fly Blade India has tied up with Brazilian aerospace major Embraer-founded Eve Air Mobility (EAM) to deploy their electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle (eVTOLs) or air taxis to the country.

The urban air mobility player has got into a pact for up to 2 lakh flying hours annually with Fly Blade. This means EAM will deploy 200 air taxis with Blade that have a list price of $3 million apiece. Each of them will fly for 1,000 hours every year here.

India is “most relevant for UAM” and deliveries here will be within weeks or months of when they enter into service in 2026, Eve Air Mobility co-CEO André Duarte Stein told ToI on Monday. Stein has worked in India for many years and knows the country well.

It should be mentioned here that American mega carrier United had recently announced a $15-million investment in EAM and a conditional purchase agreement for hundreds of four-seater electric aircraft with deliveries expected to start in 2026.

EAM’s air taxi will initially be piloted with a seating capacity for four passengers and cargo space (a must for airport service). They will weigh about 2.5-3 tonnes (batteries will account for a quarter of this weight), have a maximum take-off weight equivalent to a chopper and have a flying range of 100 km, the co-CEO shared.

Bengaluru alone has the potential of absorbing 300 eVTOLs for commuting between the city centre and the airport and nearby places, he noted. Moving to the next stage, the air taxi maker will launch six-seater automated air taxis (with no pilot) after “taking learning experiences from the piloted ones and by which time passengers would have had the confidence to step into an unmanned eVTOL.”

27/09/22 ETNow

Read More

FlyBlade to launch electric flying vehicles in India

After scooters and trucks, you will soon be able to fly on electric vehicles. Urban air mobility player FlyBlade India has inked an MoU for a strategic partnership with Embrear’s Eve Air Mobility to bring at least 200 electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOLs) to India by 2026. 

Along with this, both the companies have inked a pact to facilitate infrastructure, service and support, and Eve’s Urban Air Traffic Management (UATM) software solution. The companies also plan to collaborate on a three-month pilot project connecting passengers from various places to the city airport using helicopters. BLADE India, through its leasing partners, will initially underwrite 50,000 hours of Eve’s eVTOL in the country.

eVTOL aircraft is a variety of VTOL aircraft that uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically. eVTOLs are designed to pick up passengers from rooftops of their apartment blocks to ferry them across the city to their respective offices or entertainment centres. The speciality of these aircraft are that these have close to zero carbon emission. They are also cost effective, and economical, according to the Brazillian planemaker. 

Earlier this month, United Airlines too invested $15 million in Eve Air Mobility, a subsidiary of Embraer, and a conditional purchase agreement for 200 four-seat electric aircraft along with 200 options.

André Stein, co-CEO of Eve, who was in India to meet officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) told businessline that he sees a great opportunity in India for this segment to flourish. “It’s a great pleasure, and we see great possibility to not only understand the problem and find a solution but to also build an ecosystem. We think India has a great potential.”

The Indian Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia — back from his tour to the US and Canada — made a strong pitch to bring eVTOLs to India. He said he had asked the US-based start-up Beta Technologies to explore the Indian market to launch eVTOLs.

26/09/22 Forum Gandhi/Business Line

Read More

Medicines and Biryani from the sky: Made-In-India drones witness growth post import ban

Declaring the Indian drone industry as a ‘sunrise sector’, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, under the Ministry of Commerce, banned the import of drones in February. This has given a fillip to homegrown drone companies that are finding innovative uses for these unmanned aerial vehicles.

One of India’s leading drone companies Throttle Aerospace Systems (TAS) witnessed a 150% growth since the announcement. Even e-commerce companies like Dunzo, Swiggy and Zomato have ventured into the drone delivery space.

Last year, Zomato acquired a drone startup TechEagle to build models that can help deliver essentials and possibly food in the near future.

RattanIndia’s drone company Neosky in association with TAS, is now planning to also supply drones for e-commerce and consumer-led initiatives besides defence. The companies have partnered with Dunzo, leading hospitals in India and even grocery delivery for Instamart, by Swiggy. At present, they are manufacturing 30 drones per month, aiming to go upto 45-50 units in the near future.

Consumer brands like Swiggy recently partnered with Garuda Aerospace and Throttle to launch doorstep deliveries for groceries through Instamart. Its trials have already begun across Delhi-NCR and Bangalore. Another startup Biryani by Kilo delivered Biryani to eight influencers post the launch of eight stores in Hyderabad.

As of now, the drone space in India is extensively being used in the defense sector and helping with delivery of average payload commodities.

“We can see consumer led drones picking up but before that we would need designated drone corridors by the government. As of now, drones would be extensively used in the defense sector or for average load deliveries. Though it is exciting to witness food being delivered by a drone, it is further down the future,” said Sarath Chandra Gudlavalleti, CEO of Neosky.

The government too had founded extended uses for drones. During the pandemic, a box weighing 12 kilos of medicines and 20 vials of vaccines was delivered to rural parts of Telangana through drones in an initiative called ‘Medicines from the Sky’.

The government is taking active steps to boost domestic manufacturing of drones. On July 6, 2022, India’s aviation ministry released the second provisional list of 23 beneficiaries of the production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme for the drone industry.

14/09/22 Business Insider

Read More

Iran to form aircraft maintenance consortium with Russia, China, India: report

Iran will form an aircraft maintenance consortium together with Russia, China and India, reports indicate.  

The Head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran (CAO) Mohammad Mohammadi Bakhsh said the consortium will be formed in order to set the standards for aircraft repair services, according to Silk Road Briefing.   

Baksh also said Iran repaired six foreign aircraft from four countries in 2022 and will eventually manufacture its own aircraft.  

In July 2022, Iranian media began to report that a cooperation agreement regarding the delivery of Iranian-made aircraft parts to Russia had been signed between Russia and Iran.  

Additionally, the reports suggested Iran would help Russia maintain its fleet of foreign-made aircraft and increase the frequency of flights to Russia.  

In March 2022, Russian Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev said the country would use “Iran’s experience” in circumventing Western sanctions imposed following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  

The invasion prompted many Western companies to stop supplying parts and aircraft to Russia, as well as carrying out maintenance on Russian-owned aircraft. 

05/09/22 Valius Venckunas/Aerotime Hub

Read More