Virgin Atlantic and Joby are bringing flying taxis to the UK
John Keeble/Getty Images
- Joby Aviation is partnering with Virgin Atlantic to launch flying taxis in the United Kingdom.
- The company said the air taxi can carry up to four passengers.
- Joby also plans to launch air taxis in the US this year in New York and Los Angeles.
UK residents can soon skip the Tube, Uber, and hours of traffic by gliding through the skies in long-imagined flying taxis.
Electric air taxi company Joby and British airline Virgin Atlantic announced a new partnership on Sunday to bring flying taxis to the UK.
Joby said its air cabs use "six tilting propellers" that allow them to take off and land vertically with a fraction of the noise of a helicopter.
The aircraft is designed for back-to-back flights and can carry up to four passengers at a time. They can fly at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour and be used for trips of up to 100 miles. A more than hourlong car ride from Heathrow Airport to Canary Wharf would become an 8-minute flight by air taxi.
The company plans to build a network of landing locations, known as vertiports, across the UK. At launch, it expects pricing to be in line with "premium" ride-sharing options.
Joby and Delta Air Lines — which has a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic — announced a partnership in 2022 to use air taxis for transporting customers to the airport across the US and UK. Joby is also backed by Toyota and Uber.
"Virgin Atlantic's commitment to delighting its customers reflects our experience with Delta and we couldn't imagine a better partner to work with in the UK," Joby's founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt, said in the company's press release.
Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said, "As a leader in sustainability and with innovation firmly in our DNA, we are delighted to be partnering with Joby to bring short-haul, zero-emission flight to airports and cities throughout the UK."
Electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs, the technical name for air taxis, still need to clear a few regulatory hurdles before they're ready to take flight. But the UK has a roadmap called the Future of Flight Action Plan that aims to have the first eVTOL in the air by 2026.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration cleared Joby's air taxis for flight in a "final rule" published in October that provides guidelines for training pilots and operations. Joby has plans to launch its first air taxis in New York City and Los Angeles by the end of this year.
United Airlines, which has a partnership with eVTOL company Archer Aviation, is also planning to launch its first air taxis this year.