NEW DELHI, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- India's home-made passenger aircraft will be ready in the next three years, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said.
"The implementation process of 19-seater modification to Saras aircraft will begin soon and it will be ready for commercial use within next three years, giving boost to regional connectivity," Vardhan told the media on Monday.
The state-owned National Aerospace Laboratories is manufacturing the Saras, a prototype of which was flown in January this year for the first time since 2009 when three Indian Air Force pilots lost their lives in a test flight crash.
The project began in 1991 as a collaboration with Russia, but financial trouble led Moscow to drop out early. The project almost came to a halt when it was hit by U.S.-imposed sanctions in 1998, after India's nuclear tests.
