Bengaluru firm begins ground testing of electric flying taxi

The ground testing for the half-scale electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) demonstrator, SYLLA SYL-X1 developed by Bengaluru based Sarla Aviation took place on Monday (December 22, 2025).

The ground testing took place at the company’s Bengaluru test facility.

Sarla Aviation said that with a 7.5-meter wingspan, SYL-X1 represents the largest and most advanced private eVTOL demonstrator of its kind currently under development in India.

“Achieved in approximately nine months of development and at a fraction of the capital typically required for comparable global programs, the milestone marks a level of engineering scale, execution speed, and systems maturity not previously demonstrated by a private aerospace company in the country,” it said.

With ground testing now underway, Sarla Aviation said its air taxi program enters its core validation phase, moving decisively beyond digital concepts and laboratory-scale experimentation into real aircraft-scale testing.

The current demonstrator is a functional sub-scale aircraft, purpose-built to validate structural behavior, propulsion integration, and system-level safety architecture at meaningful scale. Unlike academic prototypes or small RC-scale platforms, SYL-X1 is designed with certification intent from the outset, forming a direct bridge toward Sarla Aviation’s 15-meter wingspan full-scale aircraft.

“This milestone reflects what’s possible when globally experienced Indian engineering teams build with rigor, patience, and world-class standards. Our focus has never been on being first, but on building to last — on creating an aviation giant,” Rakesh Gaonkar, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer, Sarla Aviation said.

During the same period, Sarla Aviation also delivered a full-scale static aircraft for national showcase at Bharat Mobility, while strengthening its long-term execution capability by raising $13 million in total funding.

Sarla’s flagship programme is a six-seater electric flying taxi, designed to dramatically reduce commute times in India’s most congested cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune.

It can be recalled that in 2024, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), which operates the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), recently entered into a partnership with Sarla Aviation to launch electric flying taxis.

The two entities signed a statement of collaboration to explore sustainable air mobility, specifically eVTOL aircraft.