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Residents of the UAE looking for faster connectivity between the emirates will soon be able to fly between Dubai and Abu Dhabi following a deal between Falcon Aviation and Archer that will see the two entities jointly develop a vertiport network, with the aim to launch flight operations between the two cities by 2025.
As a part of the deal, Falcon Aviation, an aviation services operator headquartered in Abu Dhabi, and Archer, the NYSE-listed firm that specialises in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, will commence developing the vertiport infrastructure at Falcon Heliport at Atlantis, the Palm in Dubai, and the Marina Mall heliport at Abu Dhabi Corniche.
Passengers will be flown aboard Archer’s Midnight “flying car”, according to a company release, which made its regional debut at the Dubai Airshow in November.
The flights between the two vertiports will “operate almost entirely over water with scenic views of both cities and clock in at as little as 30 minutes from take-off to landing,” the California-based Archer said in a release.
At the Dubai Airshow, Archer officials described the Midnight as a piloted, four-passenger aircraft with the capability to perform back-to-back flights with minimal charge time in between.
The company further added that this deal will further establish the plans to launch across the UAE and the wider Middle East and North Africa region as soon as next year.
In October last year, Archer signed a deal with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) with plans to commence air taxi operations in the UAE capital in 2026. As part of the initiative, ADIO also extended supporting Archer with incentives for establishing its first international headquarters and manufacturing facilities in the Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industry (SAVI) Cluster in Abu Dhabi.
A month later at the Dubai Airshow, UAE heliport operator Air Chateau International signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering a planned purchase of up to 100 eVTOL aircraft from Archer for around $500 million. Air Chateau said in a release at the time that it plans to own and operate the aircraft in the region, without sharing further details.
At the same event, Archer also partnered with the UAE military maintenance company Gal Ammroc in a push for a wider launch across the region aboard Archer’s Midnight from 2026.
Air taxis or aerial ridesharing is a concept that has been embraced by UAE authorities with a push for such operations to take flight by 2026. In February 2023, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced he had approved the design of new air taxi stations, which would begin operations in three years.
Ahead of this year’s World Government Summit in Dubai in February, Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, also approved the launch of aerial taxis to take-off in Dubai by 2026 aboard the Joby Aviation S4 aircraft, designed to accommodate four passengers plus the pilot.
(Reporting by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
