India’s The ePlane Company showcases e200X eVTOL, signs medical services deal 

The ePlane Company, the commercial brand under which Indian advanced air mobility developer Ubifly Technologies operates, has shared publicly its ambitious plans within the field of air medical services during the 2026 Farnborough International Airshow. 

This startup, the brainchild of Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, was set up in 2019 as a spin-off of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras’s Discovery Campus and has been working on an eVTOL aircraft called e200X. 

The e200x will be a 2.2-ton fully electric eVTOL capable of carrying two passengers and one pilot (or, alternatively, up to 200 kg of cargo) over distances of up to 110 km. 

On July 20, 2026, The ePlane Company showcased the first full scale prototype of the eVTOL, which is expected to start flight testing in 2027. Prior to this, flight testing had been conducted with two subscale demonstrators, one which is a fifth of the size of the e200X. The other, called e50, is capable of carrying a 50 kg payload. Together, these two test aircraft have racked up around 10,000 km in flight tests. 

On July 22, 2026, two days after the e200X presentation, the Indian startup also used Farnborough as an opportunity to announce a major deal with Apollo Hospitals, a conglomerate which manages India’s largest private hospital network and a number of other health-related businesses, such as pharmacies and diagnostic clinics. 

The rationale for this deal is that The ePlane Company has identified medical air services as the priority market for the e200X.  

Although this future eVTOL will also have applications as air taxi and in cargo delivery, the startup has identified an opportunity in India, where many areas lack appropriate land transportation infrastructure when it comes to being able to deliver medical assistance swiftly.  

The two companies have pledged to work together to roll out the e200X in an air ambulance configuration as well as drones in order to fulfill a number of services. These include emergency response and medical transfers between hospitals, as well as the speedy delivery of medicines, organs and other medical supplies. 

As part of this agreement, Apollo Hospitals will also have the option of becoming an investor in The ePlane Company at a future date. 

Speaking with AeroTime, a spokesperson for The ePlane Company confirmed that the startup is talking with a number of operators in the medical space. Already in February 2025, the eVTOL developer signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian air ambulance operator Critical Care Air Transfer Team (ICATT) for 788 e200X aircraft, a fleet which would allow to provide eVTOL coverage throughout all of India’s districts. 

The ePlane Company claims that it has raised US$21.5 million from venture capitalists in the United States and India so far, including some prominent names in the business and investment community such as Naval Ravikant, plus Aditya Ghosh. former CEO of IndiGo and Oyo and co-founder of Akasa Air. 

The ePlane Company also confirmed to AeroTime that it is currently seeking another US$70 million in investment, of which it has secured US$20 million, plus another US$30 million coming from government support programs to back strategic industries in India. These sums are much smaller than those that some of the eVTOL leaders, such as Joby and Archer, have raised in the US. However, sources at The ePlane Company consulted by AeroTime highlighted that the company has a much smaller burn rate due to much lower costs. 

Having received a Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s aviation authority, in 2023, The ePlane Company is now aiming to obtain the type certificate for the e200X eVTOL.

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