zeeshan khan
As Air taxis get closer to becoming a reality, travelers in Dubai might soon take to the skies to avoid gridlock.
An important step in Dubai’s drive to integrate airborne transportation into its urban mobility network as early as next year was taken this week when Joby Aviation successfully conducted the first test flight of its completely electric air taxi in the emirate.
By providing a quicker, emission-free option for travelers navigating the city’s increasing traffic, the company hopes to lessen the strain on the road infrastructure.
“We want to change the way people commute,” stated Anthony Khoury, General Manager of Joby’s UAE division.
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According to the company, taking the Joby Aerial Taxi from Dubai’s main airport, DXB, to Palm Jumeirah will take only twelve minutes, compared to forty-five minutes by automobile.
Joby acknowledges that early pricing would probably target higher-income tourists, but their long-term goal is to make their aerial taxis “affordable for everybody to use,” according to Khoury. “As with any newly developed technology, early days might be a bit more premium.”
According to Joby Aviation authorities, the demonstration flight was planned to simulate a normal aerial taxi ride and took place on Monday at a remote desert location southeast of Dubai’s downtown.
The demonstration aircraft performed a vertical takeoff, flew for several kilometers, and then returned for a vertical landing in front of senior government officials, transportation executives, and corporate representatives.
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The California-based company’s flagship electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the Joby Aerial Taxi, can go up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) at up to 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour).
Joby’s air taxi is entirely electric, emitting no pollutants during operation, and is made to be environmentally benign and silent enough for business use in crowded cities.
“Hopefully, people won’t notice it much because it will be flying in the city, close to residential areas,” Khoury stated.
Despite being heralded as the future of urban air, eVTOLs like Joby’s still face significant challenges, such as obtaining approval from regulators and building adequate vertiport infrastructure.
In April, Morgan Stanley dropped Joby’s stock price estimate from $10 to $7, citing worries about supply chain problems and tariffs in the aerospace industry as well as short-term execution risks. The current price of Joby is $10.55.
Joby and Dubai’s Roads and Transit Authority inked a deal at the beginning of 2024 that gave the business the only right to run aerial taxis in the city for the following six years.
In 2026, the business intends to launch a commercial air taxi service in the emirate, with four first vertiports situated at Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Downtown, Dubai Marina, and Dubai International Airport (DXB).
“Transformations like this are uncommon in aviation,” Joby’s President of Original Equipment Manufacturing, Didier Papadopoulos, stated.
Every now and then, you have this forward-moving impulse. I can’t wait for you to ride this one point in the future because of what you’re seeing here.
