Leader in piloted long-range eVTOL; completed FAA Stage 4 of 5 (2026). Toyota-backed, targeting a 2026 Dubai launch.
Joby began a week-long campaign on 10 September across North Texas, the first aircraft to fly under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, including a round trip into Dallas Fort Worth International and its controlled airspace on 12 September. The programme exists to gather operational data before commercial rules are written.
Joby Aviation — eIPP, Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas — Joby began flying on 10 Sep 2026 under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program — the first aircraft to do so — running a week-long campaign on real routes across North Texas, including a round trip into Dallas Fort Worth International and its controlled airspace on 12 September. The point of eIPP is to generate operational safety data before commercial rules exist, so this is flying inside the national airspace system ahead of full FAA type certification rather than after it. These are company flights on a published schedule, not a service: no passengers are being sold seats, and certification remains the gate.
Joby has cleared four of the FAA's five certification stages, Dubai certified the first purpose-built vertiport, and EHang has been type-certified in China since 2023. Nobody is flying paying passengers at scale, and the field's binding constraint is cash against a certification clock.
Joby Aviation and Virgin Atlantic signed a binding multi-year commercial framework at Farnborough making Virgin Joby's exclusive UK air-taxi airline partner. Service targets London Heathrow and Manchester, with Heathrow–Central London pitched at 8 minutes; bookings would flow through Virgin's channels. Joby shares rose. Joby keeps operations and CAA approvals.
The UAE's GCAA certified VDX, the Skyports-built vertiport next to Dubai International — the world's first purpose-built commercial eVTOL hub, sized for ~170,000 passengers a year, where Joby's S4 will operate. Three more vertiports follow.
Nice Côte d'Azur Airport allied with Blade, Heli Sécurité and Monacair to prepare Europe's first commercial eVTOL operations using Joby's aircraft — Riviera routes to Monaco, Cannes and Saint-Tropez, pending certification.
Joby Aviation and Toyota launched the initial phase of a strategic manufacturing alliance (a joint venture) — Toyota bringing its production-system expertise to expand Joby's eVTOL production capacity for certification and demand, building on Toyota's ~$894M prior investment.
eVTOL leaders are pre-revenue and burning cash toward certification. Joby and Archer have raised billions and look funded; many European rivals already went bankrupt. Our read on who has the runway. (Our opinion, not investment advice.)
Air-taxi makers are not building the same vehicle. Joby and Archer bet on piloted, ~100-mile aircraft; EHang and Volocopter fly shorter, often autonomous hops. The range spec reveals the strategy.
An eVTOL can fly thousands of test flights and still not be allowed to carry a paying passenger. The gate is FAA type certification — a five-stage process — and it, not flashy demos, is the real finish line.
Joby Aviation — Joby flew between JFK and Manhattan's heliport network, demonstrating the urban air-taxi use case.
Joby Aviation — Joby cleared the FAA's airworthiness conformity review — the most advanced US eVTOL certification position.
Joby Aviation — Joby flew a piloted eVTOL air taxi from Marina to Monterey — the first such flight between two public airports.
No coverage matches this filter yet.
Archer Aviation 
EHang 
Volocopter