Sarla Aviation

In 1936, Sarla Thakral became the first Indian woman to earn a pilot's licence. Ninety years later, her photograph hangs on our wall, and the company that carries her name is building India's electric air taxi. For the first chapter of Women in Aviation @ Sarla, we sat down with six of the women designing and building it. They spoke about being one of five or six women in an aerospace engineering class. They spoke about growing up in a tier two city where no one knew a career in aviation was possible, and about why so few women stay in core technology roles. And they spoke about what it takes to design an aircraft, which one of them compared to raising a child: every structure, every sub-component, every detail from birth. What stayed with all of them was Sarla herself. As one of them put it, "She walked the path so that we can run on it." Thank you to Vijeta Tantry, Payal Satish, Nishtha Sharma, Pavana Prabhu, Saisurya Anbazhagan Vanniyar and Medha Deshpande for sharing your stories. #WomenInAviation #SarlaAviation #eVTOL #Aerospace

The Next Seat — Vijay Singh, Lead of Airborne Systems at Sarla Aviation. Vijay's team builds the brain of the aircraft: the flight computer that reads the aircraft, commands the propulsion, manages the energy, and stays in conversation with the ground. They built it from nothing - no reference hardware, no inherited firmware. We talked about writing a flight computer from scratch, why the hardest part of vertical flight is holding still, and what it felt like the first time it flew. "When we try to achieve anything, that time we open new doors. We create the ecosystem. And then technology evolves." Watch the full conversation. 🎬

Powering the ground layer of India's Advanced Air Mobility sector doesn't get talked about as much as the aircraft themselves but it's just as critical. That's the thinking behind Sarla Aviation's new MOU with Jio-bp pulse. Under this collaboration, Sarla Aviation and RBML will explore: — Vertiport charging infrastructure - jointly defining technical charging specifications and high-power DC fast-charging standards suitable for eVTOL operations, with RBML's charging network technology and operational expertise feeding directly into vertiport design — Stakeholder alignment - RBML potentially joining Sarla's ongoing discussions with airport authorities, including Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), as a charging infrastructure partner — Vertiport co-development - evaluating RBML's broader role as a developer, investor, or operator of vertiport infrastructure, starting with priority locations in Mumbai and expanding to other major cities — Business model design - assessing revenue-sharing, concession-based, and asset-ownership structures for vertiport operation This is exactly the kind of infrastructure-first thinking India's UAM sector needs, bringing together aircraft development and one of the country's largest charging and mobility networks to build vertiports that are ready before the aircraft are certified to fly. 🇮🇳 Adrian Schmidt — Rakesh Gaonkar — Payal Satish #AdvancedAirMobility #eVTOL #UrbanAirMobility #Shunya #SarlaAviation #EVCharging #MakeInIndia

India's Advanced Air Mobility future won't be built in a vacuum it will be built into the cities we already live in. That's the thinking behind Sarla Aviation's new MOU with Prestige Estates Projects Limited (Prestige Group), one of India's leading real estate developers. At Sarla, we've been quietly leading the ground-side work that AAM often overlooks: identifying priority urban nodes, mapping flight corridors, and building the vertiport network that will let Shunya operate safely and efficiently across India's densest cities. A vertiport isn't just a landing pad it's structural readiness, charging infrastructure, passenger flow, and integration with the regulatory and airspace framework all coming together in one place. That groundwork has been a core focus of ours since day one, and this MOU is the next step in scaling it. Prestige Group's portfolio malls, tech parks, and townships spanning Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai is exactly the kind of real estate that a vertiport network needs: high-footfall, well-connected, and already anchoring how people move through these cities. Under this MOU, we'll jointly evaluate select Prestige sites for technical suitability as vertiports, identify "priority nodes" aligned with our planned urban flight corridors, and assess what it takes structurally and regulatory to make these locations eVTOL-ready. What makes this partnership distinct is timing. Prestige is stepping in early, as a first mover, well before commercial AAM operations are live in India. That kind of forward-looking bet building tomorrow's infrastructure into today's developments is exactly what will determine which real estate portfolios are ready when Advanced Air Mobility scales in India. This is what building an ecosystem actually looks like: not a single big announcement, but a series of deliberate steps city by city, site by site toward a network that's ready before the aircraft are. 🇮🇳 Adrian Schmidt — Rakesh Gaonkar — Payal Satish #UrbanAirMobility #eVTOL #AdvancedAirMobility #AviationInnovation #SarlaAviation

We're excited to share that Sarla Aviation has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jeppesen ForeFlight, Inc., a global leader in aviation navigation data, flight planning, and aviation intelligence to explore Urban Air Mobility Solutions for India. 🇮🇳 This collaboration will explore how Jeppesen's capabilities, including its navigational data and simulation tools, can support the safe and scalable integration of eVTOL and Urban Air Mobility operations in India. Sarla Aviation is committed to building the ecosystem from aircraft to airspace needed to bring next-generation air mobility to Indian cities. Partnering with a global leader in aviation data and aviation intelligence is an important step toward that vision. We look forward to what this collaboration can unlock for the future of urban air mobility in India. Jeppesen — Adrian Schmidt — Rakesh Gaonkar — Payal Satish #UrbanAirMobility #eVTOL #AdvancedAirMobility #AviationInnovation #SarlaAviation

Sarla Aviation has partnered with Manipal Hospitals (MHEL) and Aeromed International Rescue Services Pvt. Ltd.(AIRS) to build India's first eVTOL-powered air ambulance network - bringing rapid, door-to-door patient transfers to life. This partnership brings together Manipal Hospitals - one of India's largest integrated hospital networks - Aeromed International Rescue Services, specialists in critical care air transport, and Sarla Aviation, developing India's first indigenous eVTOL aircraft. Instead of working in silos, we are designing the future of emergency care together. The tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed at our headquarters inauguration in Bengaluru, in the presence of Shri. Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, Minister of Civil Aviation of India. "The integration of advanced aviation technology with our healthcare expertise has the potential to significantly transform emergency and inter-hospital patient transfers. Through this collaboration, we hope to help shape a safe, clinically robust and scalable model for next-generation air ambulance services in India, with the patient firmly at the centre." — Dr. H. Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals As part of this collaboration, the three organisations will work together on: — Cabin and medical-bay design, from stretcher systems to paediatric and neonatal configurations — SOPs for end-to-end patient handover between ground ambulances and eVTOL aircraft — Identifying high-impact medical transfer corridors across Manipal's hospital network — Joint regulatory engagement with DGCA, MoCA, and health authorities to bring certified eVTOL air ambulance operations to India Emergency medical transport is one of the most urgent applications for advanced air mobility. When minutes matter, the ability to move patients rapidly between facilities - without traffic, without runways - changes outcomes. More to come as this takes shape. 🇮🇳 Rakesh Gaonkar Adrian Schmidt Payal Satish #SarlaAviation #ManipalHospitals #Aeromed #eVTOL #AirAmbulance #AdvancedAirMobility #HealthcareInnovation

We are excited to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Tata Elxsi to collaborate on the development of Shunya, India's first indigenous eVTOL aircraft. The partnership brings together Sarla Aviation's vision for urban air mobility and Tata Elxsi's expertise in aerospace, software and flight critical digital engineering to support the aircraft's development, testing and certification. As aircraft become increasingly fly-by-wire, electrified and connected, entirely new capabilities are needed to develop and certify them. Avionics, flight control systems, software integration, verification and validation - these are not off-the-shelf solutions. They have to be built, tested and qualified for each new platform. Tata Elxsi is a global leader in design and technology services, with expertise across aerospace engineering, intelligent mobility, software-defined systems, electrification, digital engineering and AI-led product development. The MoU was signed at Sarla Aviation's newly inaugurated headquarters in Bengaluru in the presence of Manoj Raghavan, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Elxsi; Adrian Schmidt, Co-Founder & CEO, Sarla Aviation; and Rakesh Gaonkar, Co-Founder & CTO, Sarla Aviation, along with members of the aerospace and engineering teams from both organisations. "Every major shift in transportation has been enabled by a combination of engineering innovation and ecosystem readiness. Advanced air mobility is no different, and Sarla Aviation's vision for Shunya reflects the ambition driving this transformation." — Manoj Raghavan, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Elxsi As part of this collaboration: — Tata Elxsi will provide engineering support across avionics such as flight control systems, software integration, testing, verification and validation, and certification — Sarla Aviation will lead the design, development and type certification of the Shunya platform — The engagement also creates opportunities to extend support across sensor fusion based navigation software, industrial and structural design, and airworthiness test support The next generation of aircraft will be designed, developed and certified in India. We are building towards that future. 🇮🇳 #SarlaAviation #TataElxsi #eVTOL #MakeInIndia #AtmanirbharBharat

Our Co-founder and CTO Rakesh Gaonkar joined Ather Energy, Sarvam AI, and Ati Motors on stage at Ather Community Day to talk about what it actually takes to build deep tech in India. The conversation covered a lot of ground - indigenous IP, supply chain resilience, scaling hardware, and what the next generation of engineers needs to know. Different industries, same fundamental challenge: building world-class products from India, not just assembling them here. Thanks to Tarun Mehta and the Ather Energy team for putting this together. 🇮🇳

"Let me come with the power I have and break down every wall in front of you." That's not a co-founder. Not an investor. That's India's Minister for Civil Aviation, talking to us last week. He went on: "I'm going to be your biggest cheerleader, your biggest supporter." I've raised capital across continents. I've pitched in boardrooms from Mumbai to Manhattan. Nobody talks like this. Ministers don't talk like this. But this is India in 2026. When we started Sarla, people warned us: hardware is hard, aerospace is harder, and doing it in India is hardest of all. The regulator will slow you down, they said. The government won't understand. The opposite happened. From the very beginning, MoCA and DGCA engaged with a rigor and execution speed that is, honestly, sometimes intimidating. They didn't just permit the sector, they pulled it. "We have to ensure that these kind of machines fly everywhere in the country," the Minister said. Everywhere. Thats a public transportation layer for 1.4 billion people. The strange part: that same week, Sarla received India's fastest-ever Design Organization Approval, one of three steps toward flying commercially in India. A milestone any eVTOL company in the world would lead with. And it felt almost secondary. That's what conviction from the top does, it makes even historic milestones feel like footnotes on the way to the real goal. Building the best aerospace engineering team in India is one thing. Building alongside a government that moves this fast is another. Can't wait to build what's inevitable together with our nation, our team, and our government. Sarla Aviation Rakesh Gaonkar Payal Satish https://lnkd.in/dp47swNa