“Ever wished your next bus ride could take off?” Deepinder Goyal launches LAT Aerospace with former employee

Deepinder Goyal, co-founder of the food delivery platform Zomato, is about to enter the regional air travel segment with a new aviation startup, LAT Aerospace.

Co-founder announces startup launch

In a LinkedIn post, former Zomato COO and co-founder Surobhi Das announced that the duo plans to make regional air travel more affordable and accessible.

“Ever wished your next bus ride could just… take off?” Das asked.

 “While building Zomato and flying across India, Deepinder and I kept circling back to the same question: Why is regional air travel still so broken — expensive, infrequent, and mostly out of reach unless you live in a metro?” Das wrote.

According to media reports, the aviation startup has already raised $50 million, of which Goyal’s contribution is $20 million.

The startup promises to transform regional air travel into a faster and more affordable alternative with a fleet of short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft with 12 to 24 seats. The aircraft will be designed to operate from compact air-stops and landing zones and will be located near where the people live. The startup aims to eliminate the chaos of traditional airpots and offer a “walk-in and fly” experience to the users.

“Our aircraft will take off and land in compact ‘air-stops’ — no bigger than a parking lot — built closer to where people actually live,” Das said in an earlier LinkedIn post.

According to Das, the country’s aviation potential is not fully utilised. 

“India has more than 450 airstrips — but only nearly 150 see commercial flights. That means nearly two-thirds of our aviation potential is being wasted. Meanwhile, millions in Tier-II and Tier-III cities spend hours — sometimes days — travelling by road or rail.”

As for operations, Das said the “buses in the sky” will connect places that have been overlooked so far.

“If you’re an aerospace engineer, systems designer, flight nerd, or just someone tired of incremental progress — drop your email in the comments and we’ll reach out,” concluded Surobhi Das in her LinkedIn post.

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