New Delhi: Partnering to launch an all-electric air taxi service across in India, Archer Aviation – eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) company and travel conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch and operate the service across India.
Under the partnership, the air taxi service would launch in 2026 and up to 200 of the Archer Midnight aircraft will be purchased, according to the companies. The companies also plan to explore additional use cases for the electric aerial vehicles (EAV) including cargo, logistics, medical and emergency services and charter services.
Designed to carry a pilot and four passengers with the intent of making rapid back-and-forth flights, with short battery charging times in between – the Archer Midnight vehicle aims is to replace car trips of up to 90 minutes with electric air taxi flights of up to 20 minutes. The plan is to fly passengers on the 17-mile trip from Connaught Place to Gurugram, typically taking up to 90 minutes by car, in about seven minutes. The Archer EAV is designed to carry 1,000 pounds with a low noise profile.
Archer’s CEO and founder Adam Goldstein said, “I founded Archer with the vision to help decongest the world’s largest cities. India is one of, if not the largest opportunity for eVTOL aircraft utilisation in the world, as it is home to the world’s largest population of over 1.4 billion people and its largest cities face some of the greatest congestion challenges in the world. Archer’s all-electric Midnight aircraft is designed to provide a revolutionary transportation solution that can help address these congestion issues.”
Archer plans to begin official testing of Midnight in the US and is working to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements. Recently, Archer signed agreements to build a high-volume manufacturing facility for its EAVs. Construction has already begun on the 350,000-square-foot facility supporting the production of up to 650 aircraft annually, believed to be the largest EAV aircraft manufacturing facility by volume. The first phase of the Archer facility is scheduled to be completed in 2024, with the planned flying vehicle entry into service in 2025. The next phase at the location would include the capability to expand to 900,000 square feet to support making more than 2,000 aircraft per year.
“Over the last two decades, InterGlobe has been involved in providing safe, efficient and affordable transportation to hundreds of millions of Indians across the country. We are excited at this new opportunity of bringing an effective, futuristic and sustainable transport solution by introducing Archer’s electric aircraft to India,” said Rahul Bhatia, group managing director of InterGlobe.
For a majority of its Midnight aircraft components, Archer has partnered with Honeywell and Safran. The company received the first $1 million recently as part of a $142 million deal with the US Air Force, which is working with Archer to assess the eVTOL vehicle market and technologies for Department of Defence purposes. Archer received funding of $215 million recently, bringing the total investment in its EAV development to $1.1 billion. These funding came from investors including Boeing, United Airlines, Stellantis and Ark Investment Management.
According to the company, Archer is also working with United Airlines and last year received a $10 million pre-delivery payment from United for 100 aircraft.
