Flying Magazine reports, “Two titans in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi industry are building on their previously announced plans to serve the United Arab Emirates. At the inaugural DriftX conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, both headquartered in California, signed agreements with Abu Dhabi government agencies to introduce their respective air taxis in the Emirate.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Tag: Electric Air Taxis
Manufacturing Strategies Highlight Key Difference Between Joby and Archer
Aviation Week reports, “In many ways, Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation are highly similar startups. The two front-runners in the nascent U.S. air taxi market are both developing piloted, four-passenger electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles with the goal of launching commercial service next year.”
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Joby Aviation Achieves Key Air Taxi Certification Milestone
Flying Magazine reports “It’s full steam ahead for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi manufacturer Joby Aviation.” The company recently reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings and revealed “that it recorded revenue for the first time” while “announcing plans to ramp up testing, certification, and manufacturing activities.” Joby is “the first eVTOL manufacturer to complete the third of five stages in FAA type certification, and the firm is now turning to stage four: for-credit flight testing with the regulator.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Joby Completes Third FAA Type Certification in Five-Stage Process
FlightGlobal reports “US advanced air mobility company Joby says it’s completed the third of the Federal Aviation Administration’s five-stage type certification process as it reports a 2023 full-year loss of $513 million.”
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Joby and Skyports Partner on Dubai eVTOL Operations
FlightGlobal reports that “Joby Aviation and Skyports Infrastructure have joined forces to launch air taxi passenger services in Dubai as early as 2025 through exclusive deals with the emirate’s transport authority.”
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Joby CEO Announces 84% Completion of Stage 3 FAA Certification Work for EVTOL Aircraft
Aviation Today reports that Joby Aviation CEO JoeBen Bevirt says the company’s eVTOL aircraft is 84% on its way to completing FAA Stage 3 certification requirements. The company “checked off several milestones in the past three months that bring it ever closer to launching commercial passenger flights in 2025.” Joby is “ramping up production at its pilot manufacturing facility in Merina, Calif., with one aircraft in final assembly and two more in production.” It also has “chosen Dayton, Ohio, as the site for the first scaled manufacturing facility, after receiving promises for $325 million in state and local incentives and benefits, Bevirt said.”
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Joby Aviation Founder Says Electric Air Taxis Will be in Service by 2025
The AP reports that in an interview, Joby Aviation founder JoeBen Bevirt said that its electric air taxis will be in service within two years. Bevirt “insists that his Santa Cruz, California-based company…can meet an ambitious target of entering commercial air taxi service in 2025.” However, “Like other eVTOL startups, Joby is losing money – more than $400 million in 2021-2022. Analysts don’t know when, if ever, it will be profitable.” Bevirt said, “Our goal is absolutely still to achieve commercial service in 2025, and given the progress we’re making on certification and the progress we’re making on the manufacturing front, we’re excited to just be day after day knocking down the milestones.”
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Is an ‘Industry Killer’ Coming for Advanced Air Mobility?
Aerospace America reports that among the proposed rules “in the United States for the coming class of electric air taxis is one that is striking a particularly sour note for backers of these vertical lift aircraft.” The Federal Aviation Administration’s proposed Special Federal Aviation Regulation, or SFAR, “would require the operators of electrical vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to maintain 30 minutes of reserve power beyond their planned flight times during the day and 45 minutes of reserve power during the night.” The FAA’s caution is “rooted in the long-standing practice that conventionally fueled fixed-wing passenger aircraft must be loaded with enough fuel to fly to the nearest airport in the event of a technical problem en route to a destination.” The reserve rule for eVTOLs and other rules in the SFAR “remain in a legally required comment period that runs through Aug. 14.” Vertical Flight Society Director of Strategy Mike Hirschberg said, “If you have a 45-minute reserve requirement, then your total flight time is zero. That is an industry killer. If that becomes a requirement, there will be no advanced air mobility.”
Full Story (Aerospace America)
France to Test Electric Air Taxis Before 2024 Summer Olympics
The Hill reports that France “is set to begin testing electric air taxis in the coming months, with the goal of launching them in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics.” The flying taxis “will be tested at a hub outside Paris at Pontoise” in the hopes of establishing two flight paths to the 2024 Olympics from both Paris airports and two southwest suburbs, respectively.
Full Story (The Hill)