In 2026, the parent company of IndiGo, InterGlobe Enterprises, along with US-based Archer Aviation, will introduce an all-electric air taxi service in India. The service will transport customers from the nation’s capital, Connaught Place, to Gurugram, Haryana, in just seven minutes.

200 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which function similarly to helicopters but with less noise and more safety, will be provided by Archer Aviation. eVTOL aircraft may accommodate four people in addition to the pilot.

The 200 aircraft, with 12 rotters each, will set you back about $1 billion USD.

In addition to Delhi, the joint venture between InterGlobe and Archer Aviation will first introduce similar services in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Executives at Archer Aviation estimate that the five-seater eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft the business uses for the seven-minute flight from Connaught Place to Gurugram, Haryana, will set you back between ₹ 2,000 and ₹ 3,000.

Adam Goldstein, the founder and CEO of Archer Aviation, stated on Friday that talks are ongoing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US regulator, and that the company’s aircraft certification process is going well.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will start the certification process after the expected certification occurs next year.

In a national capital interview, Goldstein stated that the company hopes to have 200 of its Midnight planes for operations when it begins flights in India in 2026.

Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai will be the initial focus of Archer Aviation. Its flight from Connaught Place in Delhi to Gurugram will take about 7 minutes, and it may cost between ₹ 2,000 and ₹ 3,000. According to Goldstein, traveling the 27 kilometers in a car would take about 90 minutes and cost approximately ₹ 1,500.

The pilot and four passengers will be allowed to board the five-seater Midnight aircraft. According to Chief Commercial Officer Nikhil Goel, the plane’s six battery packs would allow it to be fully charged in 30 to 40 minutes. A minute of charging will correspond to one minute of flight time.

The specifics of Archer Aviation’s joint venture with InterGlobe Enterprises are still being worked out.

The US-based business is also in talks on infrastructure and other areas of the traveling operations with a number of towns.

Goel stated that the joint venture may select partners for the eVTOL operations in India and that it will use the entire might of the conglomerate InterGlobe.

The size of land needed for vertiports, launchpads, and other infrastructure needed to begin traveling operations is also an area of discussion.

This year, Archer Aviation will construct a manufacturing plant in the United States. Initially, the facility will be able to produce up to 650 planes, with the potential to create up to 2,000 planes.

In response to a question about whether the business would consider producing the planes in India in the future, Goldstein said that it would.

Indian travel company InterGlobe Enterprises and Archer Aviation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last year. IndiGo is a part of the MoU.