After disrupting India’s food delivery space with Zomato, Deepinder Goyal is preparing to take off literally with his latest venture: LAT Aerospace, an aviation startup aiming to overhaul regional air travel in India. The move was publicly revealed by Surobhi Das, co-founder of LAT Aerospace and former COO of Zomato, in a recent LinkedIn post.
The new company is focused on building an affordable, accessible, and frequent regional air network, specifically targeting India’s smaller towns and cities. The idea stemmed from years of travel during the Zomato journey, where both Goyal and Das often discussed the lack of convenient air travel options outside major metros.
India Has the Runways—But Where Are the Flights?
“India has 450 airstrips. But only 150 have commercial flights,” she wrote to stress the severe underutilization of India’s aviation capacity. She pointed out that, “millions of people who live in Tier 2/Tier 3 cities still spend hours or even days travelling by road or rail, with no access to reliable, fast flights.”
That gap in connectivity is precisely what LAT Aerospace wants to address. Das described their vision as “buses in the sky” small aircraft operating on short routes with frequent service, linking smaller cities that the mainstream airline industry has ignored.
The Vision: Small Planes, Tiny Airports, Big Potential
LAT Aerospace will operate low-cost STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft that can operate from ultra-compact “air-stops” landing zones no bigger than a parking lot. These “air-stops” could drastically reduce infrastructure needs, eliminating the long queues, security checks, and baggage delays common at traditional airports.
“Imagine countless of these air-stops in metro cities, perfect for linking them up to smaller areas, without the hassle,” Das wrote.
The planes, which will accommodate 12 to 24 passengers, are aimed at making air travel not just a possible option for short-haul commuters and visitors from small towns.
Challenges Ahead: Regulations, Technology, and Adoption
While this plan from LAT sounds ambitious, there are a number of challenges to overcome. A report from PTI highlighted the early stage that India’s regional aviation market is at, with regulatory constraints, technological maturity and uncertain adoption by the general public as three stumbling blocks.
However, the startup’s brave foray might provide momentum to change – if the model works and can be scaled.
Building a World-Class Aerospace Team
LAT Aerospace is currently based in Delhi NCR and is in the process of assembling a top-tier team to work on aerodynamics, materials and composites, hybrid propulsion systems, and turbo-machinery. Das issued a call for innovators to join them in solving “some of the toughest challenges in aircraft design.” Interested engineers and aviation experts can reach out to the team at engineering@lat.com.
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