Can India get its first Hydrogen-powered aircraft flight version by 2028?

BluJ Aerospace, a Hyderabad-based deep-tech aerospace company, said that it is progressing towards a flight version of hydrogen-based vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft by 2028, aiming to revolutionise urban and regional air transportation.   

The company said on Tuesday that BluJ has already developed a ground version of the system, including an in-house Type IV composite hydrogen tank, and is progressing toward a flight version.

“Hydrogen-electric long-range variants are targeted for 2027 to 2028, with BluJ collaborating with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Cochin International Airport Limited on hydrogen ecosystem development,” it said.

It also unveiled the second-generation prototype; the first aircraft developed on VANTIS, its platform-based architecture, after four years of in-house R&D.

Gen #2 is the first commercial-grade aircraft from VANTIS, purpose-built for heavy-payload logistics. It carries an active payload target of above 200 kg, operates under a 500 kg maximum take-off weight, and uses a lift plus cruise configuration.

Following Gen #1, the company’s technology demonstrator and India’s first public flight demonstration of a 500 kg class eVTOL aircraft, Gen #2 is now in active flight testing.

It sits within BluJ’s broader roadmap, which spans different VTOL variants across urban and regional transportation, with passenger mobility as the long-term destination.

Fully battery-powered, it takes the platform from technology demonstrator to operational aircraft, with major subsystems built to the standards the certified commercial version of REACH will need. It is now being used for early customer pilots, payload testing, and real-world logistics mission evaluations as BluJ progressively expands the missions the aircraft can handle.

“The next major shift in aviation is the move from single product programs to platform-based architectures. Just as the automotive industry builds multiple vehicles on a common platform, Advanced Air Mobility will need adaptable architectures that scale across missions, payloads, and customer use cases," said Amar Sri Vatsavaya, Founder and CEO of BluJ Aerospace.

BluJ’s commercial pipeline spans infrastructure logistics, express cargo, energy, airports, and defence. The company has already completed a successful pilot deployment with a leading Power sector PSU for infrastructure logistics and has active defence partnerships with a major Defence PSU and Indian defence primes.