Flying Taxi Company Plans Service Across Japan

Electric air taxi company Joby Aviation has teamed with ANA Holdings and Nomura Real Estate Development, one of Japan’s largest real estate developers, to create vertiports for its air taxi service across Japan.

The companies plan the design, location, operation and financing of takeoff and landing facilities for the electric aerial vehicles (EAV).

The initial focus will be on metropolitan areas such as Tokyo before expanding to urban areas across the country, according to Joby, an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) company.

Joby and Japan airline group holding company ANA HD have been working together to bring electric flying taxi services to Japan since 2022.

The Joby four-passenger EAV is designed for rapid, back-to-back flights and can fly up to 100 miles on a single charge at speeds up to 200 mph.

Traveling from Manhattan to JFK Airport could be done in seven minutes, according to the company. 

Joby recently was awarded a $9.8 million grant to expand in California.

The California Competes grant, from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), is aimed at helping finance a significant expansion of Joby’s facilities in Marina, California along with more hiring at the company’s other offices in San Carlos and Santa Cruz, California.

As part of the deal, Joby agreed to invest $41 million and create 690 additional full-time jobs in the state by 2027.

Joby recently flew an exhibition flight over New York City.

At that event, a heliport infrastructure for eVTOL vehicles in New York City was announced at a news conference.

Joby has a partnership with Delta Air Lines with New York as one of its early launch markets once approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 

Since 2017, Joby has flown more than 30,000 miles with its full-scale prototype EAV, according to the company.

Joby has been working on its electric flying vehicles for more than a decade with commercial passenger service planned for 2025.

After months of test flying its EAV remotely, Joby recently added pilots to the mix. Most of Joby’s EAVs had been piloted remotely from a ground control station.

Joby recently delivered the first eVTOL vehicle to the Air Force at the Edwards Air Force Base in California, believed to be the first eVTOL taxi delivered in the U.S. as part of a $131 million contract between the Department of Defense and Joby.
In September, Joby announced it selected Dayton, Ohio, as the location to build facilities to deliver up to 500 flying vehicles a year.

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