Rama Krishna Sangem
From food delivery to jet engines! Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal wants to build jet engines now. His new aerospace startup, LAT Aerospace, co-founded with Surobhi Das, is hiring engineers to design gas turbines for regional planes — entirely made in India.
Deepinder Goyal’s foray into aerospace signals a bold ambition: designing and building flight-ready gas turbine engines in India from scratch. His new venture LAT Aerospace plans to power short-haul regional aircraft, challenging India’s historic limitations in propulsion R&D.
Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato and cofounder at LAT Aerospace, has invited engineers to apply for a dedicated propulsion research team based in Bengaluru, with the aim of developing gas turbine engines entirely within India.
Goyal established the startup alongside former Zomato Chief Operating Officer Surobhi Das, with the objective of creating low-cost short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft. Such planes would be capable of carrying up to 24 passengers, specifically targeting regional air travel.
R&D with a fresh approach
In a LinkedIn post, Goyal stated, “India has tried building gas turbine engines before. And we’ve come close. At LAT, we want to get past the finish line.” He emphasised that the team’s mission is to design and build efficient, lightweight, and flight-ready gas turbine engines from the ground up. Goyal clarified in the same post that this venture is independent of Eternal. His ambitious entrepreneurial story is carried by Business Standard.
What are gas turbine engines?
Gas turbine engines are a class of propulsion engines that produce thrust by compressing air, mixing it with fuel, burning the mixture, and then pushing out the exhaust gases at high speed. Such engines operate on the principle of continuous flow. The term is also commonly used to describe a complete internal combustion system comprising at least a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine.
The most significant application of gas turbines is in aviation, where they supply the propulsion power for jet engines. Gas turbine engines have replaced other types of engines as the standard method of propulsion for almost all commercial and military aircraft.
In a gas turbine engine, the combustion of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel—usually kerosene—in compressed air produces heat energy. This increases the energy of the gases flowing through the engine. The movement of these gases generates internal forces on the engine’s components, resulting in forward thrust. A portion of this energy is used to compress the incoming air using either an axial-flow or centrifugal compressor.
In jet engines, this energy remains as a high-velocity jet expelled from the engine, which is why they are known as “jet engines”.
Advantages of gas turbine engines: Typically lighter in weight compared to other engine types, Deliver greater power output, Capable of functioning at higher aircraft speeds, Ensure smoother and more stable operation, Offer higher reliability in performance, Require less frequent maintenance due to longer operating intervals.
Deepinder Goyal, who delivered us delicious foods home through his Zomato, is not now trying to deliver India our own jet engines, will he be able to do that?
