aviationupdate

JoeBen Bevirt hopes to make his company's electric air taxis as cheap as hailing a rideshare, he told Axios' Joann Muller at the annual What's Next Summit in D.C. on Tuesday.
The big picture: Bevirt, the founder and CEO of electric air taxi developer Joby Aviation Inc., said he wants to make the electric air taxis "accessible to everyone."
The California-based company is among the startups making eVTOLs — electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
What he's saying: "We want a price that's comparable to what you would pay for a taxi or an Uber," Bevirt said.
Bevirt said this type of aircraft is "not some science fiction reality that's going to happen far into the future." Instead, it is "happening right now."The company, which Bevirt started in 2009, has set a goal to be at a run rate of an aircraft a month by the end of 2024.
Between the lines: Bevirt envisions a world where you get off a Delta flight and into one of Joby's air taxis "as seamlessly as possible."
"We're building vertiport infrastructure at JFK and LaGuardia and LAX to give that really fantastic customer experience of a tight integration between your Delta flight and your Joby flight," he said.Flashback: Joby Aviation began partnering with Delta Airlines in October 2022, and the airline said it would invest up to $200 million in the electric air taxi companyLast December, Joby Aviation also unveiled a partnership with Nomura's real estate group.Zoom out: Bevirt is a serial entrepreneur who holds dozens of patents.Prior to starting Joby Aviation, Bevirt co-founded laboratory robotics company Velocity11 in 1999, which Agilent Technologies acquired in 2007.
He also started Joby Inc. in 2005, which focuses on consumer products.
Delta Air Lines is partnering with Joby Aviation, a leading developer of electric air taxis, to make it easier and faster for customers to get to the airport.
Why it matters: The partnership is an extension of Delta's strategy to try to differentiate itself from other airlines by offering a more premium travel experience.
That includes investments in gleaming new terminals, lounges and digital technologies.
Driving the news: Delta is investing $60 million in Joby, and could invest up to $200 million total, as the partners meet major milestones in the rollout of a premium air taxi service shuttling passengers between airports and nearby communities.
The plan is to seamlessly integrate Joby's electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) service into Delta's existing flight booking process for travel to and from five cities: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and London.The service will first launch in New York and Los Angeles, where the airline has recently unveiled new terminal transformations.Joby will pursue its own, separate air taxi service in markets it has yet to identify but will likely include those two cities.
What they're saying: "This is a groundbreaking opportunity for Delta to deliver a time-saving, uniquely premium home-to-airport solution for customers in key markets we've been investing and innovating in for many years," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement.
What to watch: Joby is one of multiple companies developing eVTOLs as a faster, quieter, sustainable way to get around cities. It hopes to begin air taxi service in 2024.
For now, it is focused on obtaining Federal Aviation Administration certification for its aircraft, and then scaling production at a facility in California.
For now, it is focused on obtaining Federal Aviation Administration certification for its aircraft, and then scaling production at a facility in California."This announcement starts to answer the question about what comes after — how to integrate with the trips people are already taking," Joby executive chairman Paul Sciarra tells Axios.
Separately, United Airlines recently paid $10 million to Joby rival Archer Aviation as part of a 2021 deal to purchase 100 eVTOLs.
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