Air taxis take flight in Texas

Dive Brief: Joby Aviation began demonstration air taxi flights in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area Sept. 10 as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.

Archer Aviation’s infrastructure consortium announced plans in a Sept. 10 press release to develop a charging network for electric air taxis covering North Texas, as well as Houston, Austin, San Antonio and rural Texas communities.

Archer began a series of demonstration flights on Sept. 4, which will take its aircraft from California to Texas and Florida.

Its Texas flights aim to provide real-world operational data the FAA needs to build safety rules for commercial service at scale, Joby said in a press release.

“This is just the beginning of what Texas and Joby can build together," Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in a statement.