ePlane Company, Apollo Hospitals plan eVTOL air ambulance and drone medical supply network in India

Ubifly Technologies Private Limited (The ePlane Company) and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring electric air ambulances and medical delivery drones into India’s emergency healthcare system, connecting emergency patients across high-density urban corridors and remote access areas directly to the trauma care they need, without the delays of urban traffic or the expense of traditional helicopter transfers.

The collaboration brings together air and road ambulance network complementing one another:

Electric Air Ambulances: ePlane’s e200X aircraft, designed for rapid inter-hospital transfers, trauma response, cardiac and stroke emergencies, and organ transport, moving patients up to 7 times faster than road transport – at a fraction of the cost of a traditional helicopter transfer.
Medical Delivery Drones: Through its subsidiary Amber Wings, ePlane’s unmanned aerial vehicles are designed to rapidly move blood products, organs, vaccines, medicines, and diagnostic samples between facilities – cutting critical delivery times from hours to minutes.
Apollo’s Network of 1066 ambulances, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and diagnostic centers.

“As part of the collaboration, Apollo has indicated its intent to examine the possibility for orders for e200x air ambulances and Amber Wings’ medical delivery drones,” said ePlane in a press announcement. “The MOU also outlines the possibility of a future strategic investment by Apollo in ePlane, subject to future agreement on terms. Both parties intend to work with India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation and other relevant authorities to help bring this vision to life, alongside continued discussions on infrastructure needed to support these operations.”

Founded in 2019 and incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Incubation Cell, The ePlane Company (Ubifly Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) is the first private aerospace entity in India to receive a formal Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for electric aircraft, and its flagship e200X vehicle is the first eVTOL accepted into the DGCA’s official Type Certification pipeline, says the company.

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Photo caption (left to right): Aditya Reddy, Director, Apollo Hospitals Group; S. M. Krishnan, Senior Vice President – Finance & Company Secretary, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited; Suneeta Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited; Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder & CTO, The ePlane Company; and Jayakrishnan Ramaswamy, CFO, The ePlane Company; Divya Manchanda EVP Business Partnerships & AAM Strategy ,The ePlane Company