ITA Airways 与 Archer Aviation 合作推进 eVTOL 出租车服务

An agreement between ITA Airways and Archer Aviation, announced on 29 May, will see the two companies evaluate electric vertical take-off and landing air taxi services across major Italian cities, with the Archer Midnight eVTOL earmarked as the intended aircraft. The deal marks ITA as the first European airline to become part of Archer's partner network.

The deal is primarily a statement of intent. Aviacionline reports that no routes, launch dates or number of aircraft have been specified, and Archer has clarified that the agreement is conditional on the signing of definitive contracts.

What Each Party Brings

Under the arrangement, ITA's role will be integrating any future service with its existing network and managing the end-to-end passenger experience, according to FlightGlobal. Actual flight operations would be handled by as-yet-unidentified specialist partners.

ITA Airways chief executive Joerg Eberhart gave a measured summary of the airline's position: "As part of this process, we are exploring different solutions to identify the best possible product for our customers."

Archer founder and chief executive Adam Goldstein was more bullish. "Italy has the regulatory leadership, the infrastructure and now the airline partner to make air taxis a reality," he said.

The Aircraft: Archer Midnight

Built from the ground up as an air taxi, the Midnight accommodates up to four passengers alongside a pilot. Its 12 electric motors and propellers include six that tilt, and the aircraft is engineered for back-to-back short hops requiring only minimal recharging between flights, according to FlightGlobal.

Archer puts the Midnight's journey time between Rome Fiumicino Airport and central Rome at under 10 minutes. The same route by road, Aviacionline notes, typically consumes around an hour. With Fiumicino having passed the 50 million passenger mark for the first time last year, the case for tackling congestion is not difficult to make.

You can explore the Midnight's specifications and compare it with other aircraft types using our Aircraft Search.

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Where Certification Stands

The Midnight does not yet hold FAA type certification, and that is the central constraint on every timeline in this announcement. FlightGlobal reports that the aircraft has yet to complete a manned transition flight, a critical step in the certification process. In April, Archer completed the third of four phases of the FAA's certification process, according to Aviacionline.

Recent piloted test flights by Archer over San Francisco Bay included a roughly 10-minute leg connecting Oakland International Airport with the Marina District. Those flights relied on aeroplane mode with conventional take-offs and landings, rather than demonstrating the full vertical flight profile for which the Midnight is designed.

The company also faces legal distractions. FlightGlobal reports that Archer and Joby Aviation have each sued the other over alleged theft of trade secrets, and that Archer is separately involved in a dispute with Vertical Aerospace over alleged patent infringement.

Archer Aviation's Growing Airline Network

Broad as it already is, Archer's partner network has now gained its first European carrier in ITA. Aviacionline notes that United Airlines has New York operations in its sights, while Abu Dhabi Aviation and Ethiopian Airlines are also enrolled in the Launch Edition programme. On the acquisition side, Soracle, a joint venture formed by Japan Airlines and Sumitomo, and Korean Air have each committed to purchasing up to 100 Midnight aircraft.

The breadth of that network illustrates both the commercial appetite for eVTOL and the reality that no operator has yet committed to firm orders tied to confirmed routes and schedules.

ITA's Previous eVTOL History

The Archer deal is not ITA's first venture into urban air mobility. Back in April 2022, the airline signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus to evaluate services using the CityAirbus NextGen, and Aviacionline reports that the collaboration was broadened in January 2024 to bring in UrbanV and Enel. Airbus later paused CityAirbus NextGen development, pointing to battery immaturity as the reason. It serves as a timely reminder that eVTOL partnerships can unravel just as rapidly as they are formed.

ITA is also navigating a shifting ownership landscape. Italy's Ministry of Economy and Finance currently holds 59%, with Deutsche Lufthansa accounting for the remaining 41%. Aviacionline reports that Lufthansa announced in May its intention to exercise an option lifting its shareholding to 90% for €325 million, with completion of that transaction anticipated in the first quarter of 2027. Whether a Lufthansa-dominated ITA will maintain the same appetite for urban air mobility remains to be seen.

The Bottom Line

The ITA-Archer agreement is an early-stage exploration, and both parties have been careful not to overstate it. There are no routes, no aircraft orders and no operational dates on the table. Archer still needs to clear the most demanding phases of FAA certification and complete manned transition flights before it can demonstrate the Midnight's full capability to any airline partner.

What the deal does establish is that a major European carrier, one whose punctuality performance we examined in our look at the most on-time airlines of 2025, is willing to put its name behind the eVTOL concept at a point when the technology remains unproven in commercial service. For Italian passengers, the promise of a sub-10-minute connection to Fiumicino is compelling. Whether it ever becomes real depends almost entirely on what happens in Archer's certification programme over the next few years.

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The post ITA Airways Teams Up with Archer Aviation to Bring eVTOL Taxis to Italy first appeared on The Aviation Hub.