Ashish Kumar, an alumnus of  IIT Delhi is developing hybrid plane in the US. The plane will be having a range of 1,100-km which will be a hybrid-electric aircraft. It may fulfill India’s need for cheap local regional flights. The plane is likely to be available by  early 2020s.

Ashish Kumar is founder and CEO of Zunum Aero. The company is based in Kirkland (Washington).

The regional hybrid-electric aircraft under development will get a range of 1,600 km by 2030, as reported by The Economic Times.

Ashish Kumar is a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Cornell University. He founded Zunum Aero in 2013.  His company is building a range of commercial hybrid-to-electric aircraft for regional flights. These run on quiet range-optimized powertrain and propulsion technologies. The company is looking forward to extend fast and affordable air travel to every community.

Ashish Kumar said, "Boeing and JetBlue are backing us. We will first come out with a sub-20 seater hybrid aircraft. We hope to have the first prototype flying in two years and begin commercial production in early 2020s." He further added, "We are looking at India in a big way.”

Zunum claims, that the hybrid planes will be having 80% lower emissions and operating cost of these planes will be lower than conventional planes. According to Ashish Kumar, these factors will enable the airlines to provide cheap fares to customers.