Bengaluru, 6th August, 2025:

Air-Taxi Startup Sarla Aviation has announced the appointment of Rajiv Bansal, Former Secretary,MoCA and MD of Air India to lead the company with regulatory advisory and strategy development towards certification. With the joining of Mr. Bansal, Sarla Aviation will strategically reinforce its plans towards introducing safe, purpose-driven and accessible urban air mobility solutions in the Indian aviation landscape. At present, Sarla Aviation is positioned at a critical juncture as the company transitions from deep engineering to real-world deployment and flight testing. With Mr Bansal,the company ensures its validation to build India’s next-generation aircraft platforms.

Adrian Schmidt, Co-Founder & CEO of Sarla Aviation, excited, says, “It’s an incredibly important step for Sarla to welcome Mr. Rajiv Bansal ji to our team, our ambition, and our company. His experience and leadership at the Ministry of Civil Aviation will be instrumental in helping us mature our processes, shape our certification strategy, and strengthen our approach as we build India’s first privately held full-stack aviation OEM. For all of us, it’s a rare opportunity to learn, listen, and build alongside one of the greatest aviation visionaries of our country. We enter this next phase of growth with great confidence and renewed ambition—and we’re excited to serve the nation together.”

In this advisory role, Rajiv will guide Sarla on regulatory strategy, airworthiness roadmaps, and policy alignment, areas where his deep expertise and understanding are essential. His insights will also be critical as the company scales operations, engages with airports and city governments, and navigates the complex pathways toward commercial deployment.

Speaking on his appointment, Mr Rajiv Bansalsaid, “India is at a pivotal point in aviation, with the talent, ambition, and urgency to build sovereign aerospace capabilities. Sarla’s bold, full-stack approach – designing, engineering and building next-gen aircraft entirely in India represents both national strength and tech leadership. I’m proud to support a team that’s thinking long-term, building fearlessly, and setting a new benchmark for Indian innovation.”