New York City is one of the places where you can get a $1 slice at 2am or deliver a burger within 30 minutes, but you can spend two hours down the highway to get on the plane.
Archer Aviation hopes to change it in an air taxi, which expects passengers on flight from Manhattan to nearby airports within 15 minutes.
On Thursday, the startup unveiled New York City’s proposed air taxi network in a partnership with United Airlines.
“We’re starting with nine core nodes,” Archer co-founder and CEO Adam Goldstein saw a helicopter landing in Skyport downtown in an interview with Casacy Priani, a member-only club located at the lower Manhattan area.
“So there are three big international airports: JFK, LaGuardia and Newark,” Goldstein continued. “You have three big helipads, [including] Scarport in downtown, and helipads on the east and west sides. And three big regions – Teterboro, Westchester and the Republic of Long Island. ”
Archer shares a similar vision for aviation taxi networks in cities like Los Angeles. The company is still waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to approve the aircraft, a five-seat EVTOL (electric vertical takeoff vehicle) called midnight.
Archer also needs to take the pilot to one of its aircraft and test it. So far, the company has only flew the plane autonomously without the human inside. Competitors Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies both have pilot flights.
Goldstein appears to be hoping Archer will achieve the required certification in 2026, informing TechCrunch that he has the latest updates on pilot flights on his next revenue call. The company was made public in 2021 via a special purpose acquisition merger and raised $3.36 billion per pitchbook via public and private financing.
In the meantime, Archer has laid the foundations and set up infrastructure and operations. Partnerships are essential for this.
In NYC, United will help you store, maintain, charge setup your aircraft, and set up Vertiports (EVTOL landing pads) at the airport. Archer also partners with a fixed-based operator who runs Manhattan helipads (Atlantic Airlines, Signature, Modern Aviation), which provides Archer passenger access and helps set up the charging infrastructure.
“What makes New York so convincing is that it is the number one helicopter commuter city in the world outside of Sao Paulo,” said Nikil Goel, Archer’s chief commercial officer. “It’s not very difficult to imagine any of these helicopters flying through Hudson. Simply replace them with one of the aircraft. The route is already there. Air transport already knows how to work with them. FBO and landing facilities are already needed.”
Archer’s plan is to start on a small scale, bring up to five aircraft to NYC and other cities, and practice running the route before launching. The goal in 10-20 years is to fly hundreds of aircraft in several cities. Archer began midnight construction at a production facility in Georgia last month, working with strategic investor Stellantis. By 2030, 650 aircraft are scheduled to be built each year.
Aside from NYC and LA, Archer is also planning to launch in San Francisco and Miami, but the timeline still relies on FAA certifications and the company has not selected its first US launch city.
The company also plans to launch air taxi services in Abu Dhabi, where regulations are not strict later this year. Goldstein said the proposed network in NYC gives people an understandable vision.
“We want people to see [Abu Dhabi] And then, “Oh, it’s real. How does New York work?”
Source link
