UAE: Flying taxis that will cut hour-long commute to 10 minutes now closer to launch

Flying car firm Archer says 'significant progress' made in regulatory framework, infrastructure development to launch air taxi in the country

Waheed Abbas

Published: Fri 8 Nov 2024, 4:39 PM

Last updated: Fri 8 Nov 2024, 7:46 PM

Electric flying car manufacturer Archer on Thursday said it would launch air taxi services in the UAE in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The US-based company said it has made “significant progress” in terms of regulatory framework, infrastructure development and flight operations to launch its operations in the UAE.

Earlier this year, Archer Aviation received multi-hundred-million dollar investments from Abu Dhabi to manufacture air taxis in UAE and establish its international headquarters in the Emirates.

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“Archer established a consortium led by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio) to launch commercial air taxi services in the UAE as early as Q4 2025. Through this consortium, Archer has made significant progress in establishing the regulatory pathway, infrastructure and flight operations plans necessary to enable market entry,” Archer said in a statement in its third-quarter results late on Thursday.

“We are continuing to work closely with our key partners in the region on this initiative, such as Etihad Training and Falcon Aviation,” said the statement.

Archer partnered with Abu Dhabi-headquartered Etihad Aviation Training (EAT) to recruit and train prospective pilots to operate its Midnight aircraft. It tied up with Falcon Aviation to develop a vertiport network in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Air taxis will reduce 60–90-minute commutes by car to an estimated 10-30 minutes in a safe, sustainable, low-noise, and cost-competitive way. Archer’s Midnight is a piloted, four-passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights.

“Over the past six years, we have established the foundation to allow Archer to seamlessly transition from concept to commercialisation. As we enter the final stretch of bringing Midnight to market, our strategy is paying off in the form of strong certification progress, the eVTOL industry's most mature scalable manufacturing facility in the US and launch plans that are solidifying in the US and abroad. We believe we are in the strongest position in the industry to lead the transition to commercialisation,” said Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai have been aggressively pursuing air taxi operations and will be among the first cities in the world to introduce this new mode of transport.

Archer Aviation, Air Taxi

Archer will manufacture and operate its Midnight aircraft as an air taxi in UAE. It delivered the first aircraft to the US Air Force for evaluation earlier this year.

Midnight aircraft had conducted more than 400 test flights of the aircraft by early September.

Since the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the US finalised Midnight’s airworthiness criteria in May, Archer is now nearing completion of Phase 3 of the FAA’s 4-phase type certification process while continuing to rapidly advance through Phase 4, the final phase to secure type certification.

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