Air Taxi Company Teams With Southwest Airlines

Flying taxi company Archer Aviation and Southwest Airlines have signed a deal to plan for electric air taxi networks in California using Archer’s Midnight 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 signed includes partnering with Southwest employees and unions for operations. 

The idea is to provide travelers with a door-to-door journey with the electric aerial vehicles (EAV) involved in the first and last miles of a trip.

Archer envisions replacing drives of up to two hours with flights under 20 minutes.

“With Archer’s Midnight aircraft, passengers will be able to fly above traffic to get to the airport faster,” said Nikhil Goel, chief commercial officer at Archer. “By putting together Southwest’s impressive network of airports in California and their frequent intrastate flights with our planned network, Southwest customers could someday complete door-to-door trips like Santa Monica to Napa in less than three hours.”

Archer recently received a $55 million investment from automaker Stellantis as part of a funding agreement linked to a successful transition flight test completed in June.

Earlier this year, Stellantis purchased 8 million worth of Archer stock following an investment of $110 million in Archer in 2023.

Related:Air Taxi Company Receives $55M More from Stellantis

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

Archer has been tapping into the supply chain and manufacturing assets of Stellantis to help in the development of its eVTOL vehicles.

Archer had already announced it was planning to create 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.

The companies plan to leverage their partnerships with Beta Technologies from Burlington, Vermont, to install Beta’s rapid recharging systems across the Signature network of terminals.

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

Related:Flying Taxi Company Sells Stellantis 8M More Shares

This is 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 next year. United and Archer plan to conduct commercial operations together.

Archer has been expanding globally. The company has a deal with KakaoMobility in Korea for the planned purchase of up to 50 of the Archer Midnight at a value of $250 million.

KakaoMobility would own and operate the EAVs in Korea, with flying taxi flights offered to the 30 million registered users on the Kakao T mobile app starting in 2026. 

Archer is constructing three piloted, conforming flying vehicles, one of which will be used for piloted flight testing later this year and likely for credit flight testing with the FAA.

Archer also recently partnered with Etihad Training to recruit and train pilots to fly its Midnight EAV across the United Arab Emirates.

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.

Related:Flying Taxi Company Plans San Francisco Takeoff-Landing Network

Etihad Aviation Training trains pilots for numerous global airlines and plans to work with Archer to recruit and train pilots for the Archer eVTOL. 

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

Archer last year raised $215 million from Stellantis, Boeing, United Airlines and ARK Investment Management, with total funding at that time at $1.1 billion.

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

For mass production of the EAVs, a high-volume manufacturing facility is being built in Georgia, expected to ultimately be able to produce up to 650 flying vehicles a year.