Overview
- Signed at the CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, the pact establishes a 500-acre eVTOL manufacturing and testing campus at Thimmasamudram in Anantapur.
- Sarla Aviation has committed ₹1,300 crore, with a first-phase investment of ₹330 crore to build a 150-acre facility featuring production lines and R&D labs.
- The site will include a 2 km runway, VTOL testing pads, composite and powertrain units, MRO infrastructure, and what the company describes as India’s largest wind tunnel.
- Once fully operational, the Sky Factory is projected to produce up to 1,000 aircraft a year, including Sarla’s Shunya hybrid VTOL, with commercial operations targeted for 2029.
- APADCL will act as facilitator for certification and ecosystem development, with early job estimates of 40 specialised roles and 140 indirect positions by 2027 and state leaders signaling an ambition to begin drone-taxi production within two years.