"A safer flight, the same cost as rideshare" -- Archer unveils full-size electric air taxi, launching in 2025

Record ID: 1698076

  • Title: "A safer flight, the same cost as rideshare" -- Archer unveils full-size electric air taxi, launching in 2025
  • Date: 17th November 2022
  • Summary: SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 14, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARCHER CEO AND FOUNDER, ADAM GOLDSTEIN, SAYING: "So it's about a 15 mile trip and I think roughly a $90 type of price to be around. That would be around $6 per passenger mile, which is a little more than I think the industry has talked about. But it's a similar rideshare type of price. And so $90, I think is a pretty interesting level to look at. So significantly less than what a helicopter would cost."
  • Embargoed: 1st December 2022 20:42
  • Keywords: Archer electric flying taxi
  • Location: SAN JOSE AND HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • City: SAN JOSE AND HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA008031417112022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Archer Aviation unveiled its full-sized electric flying taxi 'Midnight' on Wednesday (November 17), and said it hopes to bring the vehicle to commercial service by 2025.
    "We built our first demonstrator vehicle called Maker, which we've been flying in Northern California. And we've now announced our production aircraft, which we called Midnight," said Adam Goldstein, Archer's founder and CEO.
    Goldstein said Archer aims to certify 'Midnight', a pilot-plus-four-passenger aircraft, by end-2024, though the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is still in the process of drawing up certification rules for these futuristic aircraft.
    Last week, Archer and United Airlines announced their first airport to city center route between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and New York City.
    Goldstein said that service would use existing Manhattan heliports and would cost around $6 per passenger mile, less than the cost of a helicopter trip.
    "We're targeting anybody that takes rideshare. And so that's a lot of people, right?" Goldstein said. "Instead of spending 60, 90 minutes in your car, you can get to the airport 10 minutes."
    Other locations under consideration by Archer for airport to city routes are Miami and Los Angeles.
    Once certified, the California-based start-up's electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft will compete in a crowded market with dozens of other developers such as Joby Aviation and Vertical Aerospace vying to revamp urban transportation.
    The nascent sector, which is backed by industrial heavyweights such as Toyota and Delta Air Lines, still faces significant challenges relating to certification, developing a suitable air traffic management system and battery technology improvements, among others.
    (Production: Omar Younis)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register