The new drone rules announced on Thursday will pave the way for air-taxi operations in the country, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said.
“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,” he said,
“Air taxis are being researched and invented globally and many startups are coming up,” the minister said .
Scindia said 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.
In a notification, the ministry of civil aviation eased the rules regarding drone operations by reducing the number of forms that need to be filled to operate them from 25 to 5 and decreasing the types of fees charged from 72 to 4.
The Drone Rules, 2021, were issued on Wednesday and they supersede the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021, which had come into force on March 12.