In Los Angeles, taxis will be flying before the 2028 Olympic Games

The eVTOL air taxi service could make its debut in 2026, two years before the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

By: Eleonora Lilli

Published by: Brian Potter

Aug 11, 2024 at 7:07am ET

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In two years' time, flying taxis will be a reality in Los Angeles. Local authorities and manufacturers are moving in this direction, so it's likely that they will already be well established by the time of the 2028 Olympics.

The developer of eVTOL, Archer Aviation (based in California), is rapidly rising to the top of a booming new sector, that of sustainable air mobility, and has just unveiled the plan it intends to develop for Southern California. The aim is to offer strategically placed vertiports that will enable residents to make the journey in 10 to 20 minutes that usually takes 1 to 2 hours by car.

Where the vertiports will be

Dozens of vertiports are expected to be built in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, with LAX airport, Orange County, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Burbank, Long Beach, Van Nuys and the University of California (USC) all in the running.

In addition, Archer (in which Stellantis is a shareholder) is in talks with the NFL organisation, the Los Angeles Rams, to evaluate the construction of exclusive vertiports in Woodland Hills and Hollywood Park, a 300-acre neighbourhood near SoFi Stadium, where the Rams and Chargers play.

Archer Midnight eVTOL x Stellantis

International and commercial flights

In June, Archer entered into a landmark agreement with Signature Aviation, a leading network of private airport terminals, to identify immediate opportunities to launch eVTOL air taxi services in the US and around the world.

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The company is concluding cooperation agreements on a number of fronts in order to set up international flight networks linking the United States to the United Arab Emirates and South Korea as quickly as possible.

Some of these agreements include commercial air taxi and VTOL operations with United Airlines in Chicago and, more recently, with Southwest Airlines in Los Angeles. In fact, Archer's flagship aircraft, the Midnight eVTOL, has already received FAA Part 135 certification, en route to true commercial flight operations.