Archer Aviation 完成 eVTOL 飞机 Midnight 的载客演示飞行

After years of being seen mostly in glossy renderings, Archer Aviation’s Midnight electric air taxi spent much of last week in Bay Area skies.

Archer announced Monday that its four-passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has completed a Northern California leg of its “No Roads” tour of the state with a series of flights departing from Oakland International Airport to smaller airports nearby, including Hayward, Mountain View, San Martin, and San Jose. 

The Santa Clara, California, company’s press release touts a flight from Oakland to San Francisco’s Marina District only taking 10 minutes, compared to “over an hour by car in traffic.”

That dismal drive-time estimate checks out in Google Maps, but actually booking a Midnight hop from OAK to the Marina would be difficult because that upscale neighborhood last had an operating air facility in 1944. 

Archer’s announcement notes that Midnight flew as fast as 131mph during this campaign, accumulating more than 200 flight miles over three days. 

The company advertises a 100-mile range and a top speed of 150mph for Midnight, which flies on 12 rotors. Six behind its wing spin only during vertical takeoffs and landings, while six in front pivot upright for those helicopter-like operations and then rotate back to horizontal for powered flight in between. 

Midnight can also perform conventional takeoffs and landings, which contemporary video and news coverage indicate Archer stuck to during flights of the aircraft at an air show in Salinas, CA, in late September. 

Next on Archer’s flight plans: further testing in Los Angeles to ready Midnight for operation under the Federal Aviation Administration’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), an initiative the Trump administration launched last year as part of its efforts to accelerate the “advanced air mobility” sector. 

Archer aims to operate air-taxi services around LA during the 2028 Olympics there, having won a designation last May as the “Official Air Taxi Provider” of the games. In December, Archer touted plans for an air-taxi network around Miami, following the April unveiling of a concept for NYC air-taxi service from Manhattan to LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark.

But before Archer can inaugurate commercial service there or anywhere in the US, the company has to earn type certification for Midnight from the FAA.

Archer applied for a type certificate for Midnight in March 2022, while the FAA’s explainer on the certification process notes that it can run from five to nine years for a clean-sheet design. Archer says it’s completed three of four phases in that program.

The notion of providing air-taxi service to airports as a swift but spendy alternative to existing car and transit options may also face resistance from airlines, even those that have inked deals with eVTOL firms. At a United Airlines event at LAX in March, CEO Scott Kirby pronounced himself “a little less excited about them flying to airports perhaps than Archer is.” 

With Archer representatives looking on–United has invested in Archer and inked a conditional order in 2021 for 100 eVTOL aircraft–Kirby questioned the feasibility of integrating air taxis into already-crowded airport airspace. “It's probably going to be hard to do,” he told his onstage interviewer, former Washington Post aviation reporter Lori Aratani.

Competing eVTOL manufacturers such as Eve Air Mobility and Joby Aviation share the same issues, along with a history of overly optimistic forecasts about securing regulatory approval. 

Archer, which reported a Q2 net loss of $263 million on $5 million in revenue, is also pursuing operations in such other countries as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Its site also lists partnership deals with multiple US and foreign airlines, including Southwest, Japan Air Lines, Korean Air, IndiGo, and Ethiopian.