2023-11-15 15:21:13
It will have been a long wait for the flying taxi to finally become a reality, first in the United States, then in the United Arab Emirates and India, but it will be “on the market in 2025”, assured Wednesday Billy Nolen, director safety at Archer Aviation.
“What we considered science fiction has now become a reality,” he told AFP at the Dubai Air Show. “It’s happening, it’s real, and you’ll see it in the market in 2025.”
Approval of Archer’s Midnight, a four-passenger, vertical takeoff and landing electric aircraft, is now expected in 2025 from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
This will result in “almost simultaneous” certification in the UAE, said Nikhil Goel, chief commercial officer of Archer, whose main backers include Mubadala, an Emirati sovereign wealth fund.
Flights to the UAE are expected to begin in 2026. “We expect demand to be significant,” Mr Goel said.
At the same time, flights will be launched to New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, said Mr. Goel, who called India “a very, very important market for us.”
Test flights for Archer’s Midnight are currently taking place in California, and rival company Joby has conducted its first experimental flights in New York.
– Zero emissions –
The Midnight is equipped with a dozen independently powered propellers, to minimize the risk of failure, and a wing allowing it to hover in the event of engine failure.
It recharges in six to seven minutes, enough time to disembark passengers between two journeys, and its range is around 160 kilometers with a speed of 240 kilometers per hour.
Flying the plane is simple, says Goel, saying a 12-year-old might fly it following 20 minutes of simulator training.
Flights would be made by reservation and would initially cost between $4 and $5 per passenger per kilometer, before being reduced by half within two or three years, he added.
In the Emirates, “demand will be greater than our supply,” Mr. Goel said, assuring that “over time, we will deploy hundreds of devices in the Emirates, which will bring prices down considerably.”
The flying taxis will use existing helicopter routes. They are theoretically safer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
“We designed this aircraft so that it can fly in urban environments, for example from the airport to the city center,” Mr. Goel said.
“It produces no emissions, it is entirely sustainable, it is environmentally friendly and its noise signature is approximately 100 times lower than that of a conventional helicopter. It is also very friendly to the neighborhood.”
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