Archer Aviation wants to help New Yorkers skip airport traffic with electric aviation taxis

New York City is one of the worlds 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 board the plane.

Archer Airlines Within 15 minutes, you’d like to change it with an air taxi that expects passengers flying from Manhattan to a nearby airport.

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. Nikhil Goel, Archer’s Chief Commercial Officer;

“So there are three big international airports: JFK, La Guardia and Newark,” Goldstein continued. “You have three large helipads, including Skyport in Downtown, followed by the helipads in the eastern and west. And three large areas – Teteturboro, Westchester and the Republic of Long Island.”

Archer shares a similar vision for the city’s aviation taxi network 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 through a special purpose acquisition merger, It was raised $3.36 billion per pitchbook via public and private funding.

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 attractive is the number one helicopter commuter city in the world outside of Sao Paulo,” Goel said. “It’s not very difficult to imagine any of these helicopters flying in Hudson. We’ll simply replace them with one of our aircraft. The route is already there. Air transport already knows how to work with them. The FBO and landing facilities are already there.

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 look at (Abu Dhabi) and say, ‘Oh, that’s true. How does New York work?” ”