Air Taxi Company Completes 400 Test Flights 4 Months Early

Electric flying taxi company Archer Aviation has completed 400 test flights, four months ahead of its scheduled goal for the year.

The test flights produced data used to evaluate and refine flying vehicle loads, vibrations, performance and handling, according to the company.

The flights included longer distance flights to gather data, increased daily operations to simulate busy flight days, landings in various wind conditions and hovering to collect data on noise.

“When we first set our goal for 400 flights this year it was viewed as aggressive, but here we are in August already knocking it out,” said Adam Goldstein, CEO and founder of Archer. “I’m proud of the Archer flight test team and the supporting groups that made it happen.”

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Archer recently closed on a $220 capital investment bringing total funding to more than $1.5 billion from investors including United Airlines and Stellantis, two major backers of Archer.

The new funding is expected to provide Archer with the ability to access up to an additional $400 million in capital in exchange for equity at future stock prices.

United Airlines had made a pre-delivery payment for 100 Archer electric aerial vehicles (EAV) in 2022.

Related:Air Taxi Company Closes $220M Financing Deal; $1.5B Raised

Archer is selling 116 of its Midnight electric flying vehicles to Future Flight Global (FFG) in a deal valued at up to $580 million, bringing the total estimated future sales of Archer electric aerial vehicle (EAV) to $6 billion, according to the company.

Future Flight Global (FFG) was founded by the leadership team at Titan Aviation, which has been operating business jets under multiple air operator certificates worldwide for two decades.

Archer and FFG plan to launch air taxi services in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Archer is planning a Los Angeles air taxi network with takeoff and landing facilities at Los Angeles International Airport, USC, Orange County, Santa Monica, Hollywood Burbank, Long Beach and Van Nuys, scheduled to start in 2026.

The Archer Midnight can carry four passengers, a pilot and carry-on luggage and is aimed at trips of 20 to 50 miles, with 10 minutes of battery charging between flights.

It can travel up to 150 mph and is designed for back-to-back flights. As with other EAVs, the Archer Midnight is a low-altitude flying vehicle.

Archer is on track to complete its manufacturing plant in Georgia before the end of this year.

The 400,000-square-foot facility in Covington should be capable of producing 650 Archer Midnight flying vehicles annually.

Related:Flying Taxi Company Archer Aviation Gets FAA Commercial Certification

Archer also has a deal with Southwest Airlines to create an electric air taxi network in California using Archer’s eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle.

The air taxis would fly in California, where Southwest operates from 14 airports across the state.

This deal includes partnering with Southwest employees and unions for operations to provide travelers with a door-to-door journey with the EAV involved in the first and last miles of a trip.

Stellantis started investing in Archer in 2021, a year after it became a strategic partner to the flying taxi company.

Archer has been tapping into the supply chain and manufacturing assets of Stellantis to help in the development of its eVTOLs and the new investment furthers that relationship.

Archer had already announced it was planning an air mobility network connecting five locations across the San Francisco Bay area with takeoff and landing facilities in San Francisco, Napa, San Jose, Oakland and Livermore.

Archer also has partnered with Signature Aviation to provide the eVTOL maker access to key United Airlines hubs at airports including Newark International and Chicago O’Hare.

Signature is the world’s largest network of private aviation terminals and would provide Archer with access to takeoff and landing sites in major metropolitan areas across the U.S., including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Texas.

Related:Air Taxi Company Selling 116 Flying Vehicles for $580M

The companies plan to leverage their partnerships with Beta Technologies from Burlington, Vermont, to install the Beta rapid recharging systems at the Signature terminals

Archer recently received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin operating EAVs commercially.

That was the second air taxi maker to be certified by the FAA, following Joby Aviation, which received its FAA certificate in 2022.

The so-called Part 135 certificate allows Archer to carry United Airlines passengers to and from airports on Archer flying vehicles once Type Certification is received, which could be in 2025. United and Archer plan to conduct commercial operations together.

Archer has been expanding globally, including a deal with Kakao Mobility in Korea for the purchase of up to 50 of the Archer Midnight at a value of $250 million.

Archer featured Midnight for the first time in Saudi Arabia, following a showcasing of the EAV at the DriftX mobility expo in Abu Dhabi.

Archer is in the process of establishing UAM operations across the UAE with the help of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, Falcon Aviation and Air Chateau.

The EAV company has received a commitment of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office.