Dive Brief:
- Urban air mobility developer Archer Aviation on Aug. 8 announced plans to launch a network of air taxis in Southern California as soon as 2026, when the FIFA World Cup comes to Los Angeles. The city will also host the Super Bowl in 2027 and the 2028 Summer Olympics.
- Archer’s largest investor, global automaker Stellantis, will contribute up to $400 million to help ramp up manufacturing capacity to 650 electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft annually. Stellantis is helping to build Archer’s assembly plant in Covington, Georgia.
- Archer Aviation CEO Adam Goldstein called the LA air taxi venture “a global showcase of America's leadership in aviation” on the company’s Aug. 8 earnings call.
Dive Insight:
The Federal Aviation Administration has already approved Archer Aviation to operate commuter and on-demand flights under Part 135 of the Code of Federal Regulations, subject to certification of its aircraft. Tom Muniz, Archer’s chief technology officer, said on last week’s earning call that the company has a “well-established certification framework and pathway.”
Archer plans to have vertiports at Los Angeles International Airport as well as airports in Orange County, Santa Monica, Burbank and Van Nuys, California. The company said in a press release that it is also in talks with the Los Angeles Rams football team for potential exclusive vertiports near the area around SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and with the University of Southern California to use its existing vertiports.
Earlier this summer, Archer announced a planned air mobility network in the San Francisco Bay Area and a collaboration with Southwest Airlines to connect Archer’s eVTOLs with Southwest’s network. “By combining Southwest’s California airport hubs and frequent interstate flights with Archer's planned network, the goal is to offer Southwest passengers even faster door-to-door journeys,” Goldstein said on the recent earnings call. “Routes like Santa Monica to Napa could take less than three hours, nearly half of what they can take today.”
Archer also signed a memorandum of understanding in June with Signature Aviation, which operates private airport terminals in New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Texas. The MOU would aim to electrify Signature terminals, including those at United Airlines hubs at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Archer and United previously announced plans to serve those two airports.
As Archer scales up its aircraft manufacturing through 2030, Stellantis’ up-to-$400 million investment will cover labor costs and some capital expenses, Goldstein said. In exchange, Stellantis will get quarterly increments of Archer stock based on labor costs in that period.
“We remain on track to open the [Covington manufacturing] facility later this year, and we are targeting a modest initial production rate of roughly one aircraft per month,” said Muniz. “Following this, our goal is to both increase our production velocity and stand up additional manufacturing lines to accelerate to a rate of four aircraft per month, and then 20, and ultimately 54 aircraft per month in subsequent years.”
