Following a challenging year for electric air taxi start-ups that saw two major players drop out of the race for certification, Archer Aviation chief executive Adam Goldstein maintains an optimistic view of the sector’s technological progress and its prospects for bringing long-envisioned commercial services to cities globally.
“Technology has come a long way across the industry,” he tells FlightGlobal on 16 June at the Paris air show. “You’re seeing lots of companies doing flight tests and… lots of electric action, which I think is a huge thing for everybody and is good because we want general acceptance from the public. You want there to be a lot of players out there.”
Goldstein says US air taxi start-ups have the advantage of greater access to capital than their European counterparts, referencing the collapses of German companies Volocopter and Lilium.
“Over the past 12 months, the European players have struggled as it’s just harder to raise capital,” he says. “I don’t think it’s necessarily a reflection of anything else; it’s just hard to raise money.”
Following a recent $850 million equity raise, Archer now boasts of holding some $2 billion of total liquidity, which Goldstein believes has the San Francisco Bay Area firm well-positioned to clear remaining certification hurdles with its all-electric Midnight air taxi.
But with certification processes dragging deeper into the decade than initially outlined by air taxi players – none of which have achieved type certification with the Federal Aviation Administration – Archer has been pursuing a new strategy of deploying pre-certification aircraft to customers.
The electric aircraft maker disclosed on 16 June a deal to deliver up to 50 Midnight aircraft to Indonesia, representing Archer’s third “Launch Edition”-branded target market after Abu Dhabi and Ethiopia. Archer says the strategy aims to “establish a pragmatic and repeatable commercialisation playbook to deploy Midnight in early adopter markets in advance of type certification in the US”.
Chief commercial officer Nikhil Goel says Archer’s growing base of global customers “don’t want just the aircraft. They really need the full support system – pilots, technicians, mechanics, simulators, hangar space”.
That is the idea behind Archer’s Launch Edition strategy: “We’ll not only ship you a couple of aircraft, we’ll also bring the whole apparatus to get you started.”
Archer has struck a deal valued at up to $250 million with PT IKN, an Indonesian company that supports the country’s national development, with ties to both commercial and defence industries.
Archer says PT IKN will explore potential air taxi services, including in Indonesia’s under-construction capital city of Ibu Kota Nusantara, as well as logistics and environmental surveillance missions using Midnight.
“We’re in there really to bring, ultimately, dozens and hundreds of aircraft to Indonesia,” Goel says.
Pressed on whether Archer’s plan to deliver aircraft prior to achieving FAA type certification of Midnight subverts the established safety process, Goel says the strategy “enhances safety for a few reasons”.
“Everywhere globally that we’re going to operate, it will operate off the exact same safety standards,” he says. “We’re not lowering the bar on safety. None of that is being changed whatsoever; it’s all based on the rules set by the FAA.”
Goel also points to ”data that we generate internationally”, which will ”flow back into the type certification process in the United States”.
Sergio Cecutta, an advanced air mobility analyst with SMG Consulting, tells FlightGlobal on 16 June that he is sceptical that Archer will launch passenger-carrying commercial operations outside of the USA ahead of certification. But he believes the company is simply finding ways to generate revenue as soon as possible.
“Archer to me is the most Silicon Valley of all the [air taxi] companies, right? One of the teachings of Silicon Valley is pivot, pivot, pivot until you get money,” Cecutta says. ”Launch Edition is basically selling a client an uncertified airplane for familiarisation with the machine, and possible operations.
“If you can sell prototypes, basically, and people buy them, then yeah – you’re making money,” he adds. ”My concern is, who is going to take something that is uncertified from a liability standpoint?”
Testing market applications for eVTOLs ahead of certification is an idea also being explored by the US government. An executive order recently signed by President Donald Trump establishes a pilot programme to test eVTOL aircraft for medical, cargo and defence missions – presumably, in areas of low population density.
Goel says that programme will establish “safe zones” in the USA in which air taxi companies “can get the technology up and going prior to FAA certification”, though the executive order remains vaguely worded at this stage.
