Guwahati News Desk: The Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, assured about the possibility that air taxis will traverse the airspace instead of roads in the coming days under the drone rules.
The announcement was made during a press conference held on Thursday.
During the conference Scindia announced, “Air taxis are being researched and invented globally and many startups are coming up.”
He added, “That time is not far when taxis, like the ones of Uber etc. that you see on roads, you will see in the air under the drone policy. I believe this is very much possible.”
The minister further informed that the Defence Ministry, the Home Ministry and BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) have been working together so that “counter rogue drone technology” can be developed and adopted quickly.
Moreover, recently the government went ahead and issued fresh norms for the use of drones in the country.
According to the new rules, no security clearance is required before registration or issue of license for the operation of drones. In addition, drone corridors are said to be developed for cargo deliveries, and coverage of drones has also been increased from 300 kg to 500 kg to include heavy payload-carrying drones and drone taxis, or air taxis.
Furthermore, the Civil Aviation Ministry has also reduced forms that need to be filled to operate drones, from 25 to 5 and decreased types of fees charged from the operator, from 72 to 4. Also, the online registration of all drones are said to happen through the Digital Sky platform.