Archer 的 Midnight eVTOL 在加州湾区完成演示飞行

Archer Aviation announced today that its Midnight electric air taxi completed several days of piloted flights in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of its “No Roads” demonstration tour. The operations included multiple flights around the bay with take-offs and landings at Oakland International Airport (OAK), according to the company.

Midnight's run through Northern California began in Salinas and moved through cities of growing airspace complexity: Hollister, San Martin, San José, Mountain View and Hayward, before reaching Oakland. The goal was to demonstrate the aircraft's ability to operate in an integrated way within the congested airspace surrounding the region's three international airports (San Francisco, Oakland and San José), one of the busiest corridors in the United States.

One of the standout flights covered the distance between Oakland International Airport and San Francisco's Marina district in roughly 10 minutes, against the more than one hour a car usually takes at peak times. On the multi-city leg, Midnight reached top speeds of 131 mph (about 211 km/h) and covered more than 200 miles (over 320 km), flying to seven cities over a three-day period.

Preguntas frecuentes

• What is Archer's Midnight?

  It is an electric eVTOL designed for one pilot and up to four passengers, with 12 electric motors, a target top speed of 150 mph and a maximum range of about 100 miles.

• Where were the “No Roads” tour flights in California carried out?

  In the San Francisco Bay Area, with operations between Salinas, Hollister, San Martin, San José, Mountain View, Hayward and Oakland, including take-offs and landings at Oakland.

• How long did the flight between Oakland and San Francisco's Marina district take?

  About 10 minutes, compared with the more than an hour a car usually takes at peak times.

• Did the flights include full vertical take-offs and landings?

  They were carried out mainly with conventional runway take-offs and landings, with the rear lift propellers folded during cruise; the full demonstration of vertical transition is still pending for the second half of 2026.

• What regulatory and commercial progress has Archer made?

  It is taking part in several eIPP projects, is advancing through FAA type certification after completing Phase 3, is the official air taxi provider for LA28 and Team USA and has a strategic alliance with United Airlines.

“The Bay Area is the innovation hub of the world, but even here Americans lose several weeks a year sitting in traffic on bridges and highways,” said Adam Goldstein, Archer's founder and CEO. “Flying Midnight across multiple Northern California cities proves that we can connect communities without roads, without traffic and without emissions in minutes instead of hours. That is the future we are working to bring to the Bay Area, to Los Angeles and to cities across the country.”

These flights are part of a series of milestones on the “No Roads” tour. On September 22, Midnight performed piloted flights before tens of thousands of attendees at the California International Airshow 2026. It had previously completed round trips between Salinas and Monterey, and between Salinas and Hollister. The operations were carried out in close coordination with the FAA and state and local authorities.

What the Midnight can do

Midnight is an eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) designed for one pilot and up to four passengers. Its target specifications include a top speed of 150 mph (241 km/h) and a maximum range of about 100 miles (160 km), optimized for short urban trips of around 20 miles, with recharges of roughly 10 minutes between flights. It has 12 electric motors: six tilting propellers on the forward wing and six fixed lift propellers at the rear, and it is designed for high-utilization operations with zero operational emissions and low noise levels. The data comes from the model's technical sheet.

The Bay Area tour flights, like earlier stages of the route, were carried out mainly with conventional runway take-offs and landings (CTOL), with the rear lift propellers folded in position during cruise. This allows the company to build operational experience and flight hours while it moves toward the full demonstration of vertical transition, a milestone it has said is still pending public completion in the second half of 2026. The aircraft used in these operations is prototype N703AX.

Next steps and regulatory context

With the Northern California stage complete, Midnight heads to Los Angeles. These operations prepare Archer to fly under the White House's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), a federal program designed to accelerate the supervised integration of eVTOL aircraft into US airspace ahead of full type certification. Archer is taking part in several of the selected pilot projects.

The company is also the official air taxi provider of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LA28) and of Team USA. It has announced partnerships to develop vertiport infrastructure in the Los Angeles region, including plans at L.A. Live, and maintains a strategic alliance with United Airlines, which has placed a conditional order for Midnight aircraft.

Archer, headquartered in San José (Silicon Valley), trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ACHR). It continues to advance through the FAA type certification process (it has completed Phase 3) while developing capabilities for both urban mobility and defense applications.

These demonstration flights illustrate the progress of advanced air mobility toward real operations in complex urban environments. Although commercial passenger operations still depend on certification and on the development of infrastructure (vertiports, charging and procedures), demonstrations such as the “No Roads” tour help validate integration with existing air traffic, familiarize the public and generate operational data that is useful for regulators and operators.