Aerospace

Planned air taxi network for San Francisco Bay Area

21 June 2024
An artist rendering of the seaport for both water and air transportation operations from Kilroy Oyster Point vertiport. Source: Archer Aviation

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft startup Archer Aviation Inc. plans to create an air taxi network that will connect five locations across the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

The company is working with Kilroy Realty Corp. to develop a 50-acre waterfront campus in South San Francisco at Kilroy Oyster Point — a water-based location that will serve as the main hub for the urban air mobility (UAM) network in the region.

The network will allow users to take flights to and from five locations in about 10 to 20 minutes. This is compared to the one to two hour drives it would normally take to travel to these cities, Archer said. The five Bay Area, California, locations include:

  • South San Francisco
  • Napa
  • San Jose
  • Oakland
  • Livermore

Archer’s planned air taxi routes as well as the time it would take to get there. Source: Archer Aviation Archer’s planned air taxi routes as well as the time it would take to get there. Source: Archer Aviation

The deal

Under the collaboration, a vertiport will be constructed at Kilroy Oyster Point. This will allow Archer to access a takeoff and landing site in South San Francisco that will enable it to fly to the other four destinations.

The vertiport would be a waterfront mobility hub with electric ferry service and eVTOL operations for all companies at Kilroy Oyster Point. The sea vertiport would use renewable energy for both air and sea operations.

The vertiport could open as early as the end of 2025 and the two companies may expand their air taxi network to other locations. It is unknown if this is additional cities in the Bay Area or other locations entirely.

Archer is developing piloted, four-passenger eVTOL aircraft that are designed for rapid back-to-back flights in urban locations with minimal charge time between flights.

Why it matters

Vertiports, or hubs for UAMs, have been in development for the past several years but actual implementation of these large aircraft locations has not fully been implemented.

Urban Air Port in Europe has come close with first deployments expected to happen in 2025 and we may see some traction happen this year at the Paris Olympics when air taxis are used to ferry visitors across the city to sporting events.

Archer Aviation and Kilroy vertiport may give these deployments in Europe a run for their money in terms of the first actual deployment of the systems.

To contact the author of this article, email PBrown@globalspec.com


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