Sarla Aviation began ground testing its half-scale electric vertical take-off and landing demonstrator, SYL-X1, at its Bengaluru facility, marking a key step in India’s private air-taxi development efforts.
The Bengaluru-based company said the testing will validate structural performance, propulsion integration and system-level safety, as it moves from design and lab work to aircraft-scale trials. The demonstrator is part of Sarla Aviation’s broader programme to develop a certified, domestically built eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft for urban transport in India.
This comes after US-based Wisk Aero, backed by Boeing, completed the first flight of its Generation 6 autonomous eVTOL at its test facility in Hollister, California.
SYL-X1 has a 7.5-metre wingspan and serves as a sub-scale platform to support the development of the company’s planned full-scale aircraft with a 15-metre wingspan. The company said the demonstrator was built with certification requirements in mind from the start to create a direct pathway to a commercial aircraft.
“This milestone reflects what’s possible when globally experienced Indian engineering teams build with rigour, patience, and world-class standards,” said Rakesh Gaonkar, co-founder and chief technology officer of Sarla Aviation. “We are building something India can be proud of, a platform that can be certified, produced, and safely operated, designed and owned entirely in India,” he added.
The company said the current phase of testing will focus on real-world validation of aircraft systems, rather than small prototypes or academic models. According to a statement, SYL-X1 is intended to bridge the gap between early-stage experimentation and full-scale certification-led development.
The programme required building a certification-aligned testing ecosystem and working within India’s aerospace supply chain. During the same development cycle, the firm said it expanded its engineering team to nearly 70 members and delivered a full-scale static aircraft for display at the Bharat Mobility event.
The company has raised a total of $13 million in funding to date to support its eVTOL programme and related infrastructure, it said. It added that its technology roadmap aims to deliver helicopter-class mission endurance while lowering operating costs and complexity through electric propulsion.
The firm positions its work as part of India’s emerging advanced air mobility ecosystem, where long-term progress will depend on certification, manufacturing and sustained operations rather than on early demonstrations.
Founded in 2023 by former Lilium executives Gaonkar and Adrian Schmidt, Sarla Aviation is developing a six-seater electric air taxi for use in cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune. The company said its aircraft is being designed with safety, affordability and operational simplicity as core requirements.
With ground testing now underway, Sarla Aviation said it plans to advance steadily towards full-scale testing and certification, with the goal of delivering operational eVTOL aircraft built in India for domestic and global markets.
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