Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal, a social media post, and 300 unused airstrips: Is India getting a new way to fly?

Deepinder Goyal, known for steering the food-tech industry in India with his company Eternal (earlier known as Zomato) and a couple of other successful ventures, including the acquisition of Blinkit, seems to have set his sights on a whole new domain: regional air travel.

According to LAT Aerospace co-founder Surobhi Das, who worked in various capacities with Zomato (including the position of COO), the company wants to make air travel as smooth as the railways or bus network.

"Ever wished your next bus ride could just… take off? We did too. 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' LinkedIn post read.

Highlighting a huge gap in capacity utilisation, Das says India has over 450 airstrips but only 150 see commercial flights. "That means nearly two-thirds of our aviation potential is being wasted. Meanwhile, millions in Tier 2 and 3 cities spend hours, sometimes days, traveling by road or rail," she adds.

For Das, access shouldn’t be a privilege but an entitlement, solved by intentional design. "We asked ourselves: What if we could connect India by air — as seamlessly as the railways? What if air travel worked like a bus network in the sky — high-frequency, low-cost, demand-based? That’s the world we’re building at LAT Aerospace — not just an aircraft, but a new way to fly. A system designed from scratch for India."

Laying out the vision of the new aerospace company, Das wants it to be affordable, high-frequency, and designed to connect the places that are yet to be connected via air. "Think buses in the sky — affordable, high-frequency, and designed to connect the places the airline industry overlooked. Our aircraft will take off and land in compact “air-stops” — no bigger than a parking lot — built closer to where people actually live. No chaos. No security lines. Just walk in and fly."

The company is currently seeking candidates who are studying or working in the aerospace field. "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," says Das.

While there's no official statement on Goyal's exact association with the company so far, he had reposted Das' another post two months back, seeking candidates who want to "build something meaningful" and "solve hard problems." "If you're a final-year aerospace engineering student, just about to graduate, want to build something meaningful and solve hard problems from day one — check this out. Needless to say, we will match/exceed your on-campus offers, and have ESOPs on top to create ownership from Day 1. Write to freshers@lat.com if you're interested," Goyal's post said.

Notably, regional air travel in India remains highly underserved, and Goyal's bet could pay off well if he's able to pull the right talent and technology. The company, meanwhile, is on a hiring spree and is actively looking for engineers and designers. The company is currently developing 12-24 seater hybrid-electric STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft, designed to take off and land from ultra-compact “air-stops.”