UAE: Flying Taxi Firm Archer To Expand In-Country Operations Ahead Of Launch Later This Year

US-based Archer Aviation, which will launch flying taxi operations in the UAE , said it would expand on its in-country operations, including pilot training, maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) setup and flight testing to gather additional data for certification and commercialisation plans in the UAE and the US over the coming quarters.

In July, Archer flew its Midnight aircraft at the Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, with its local customer and partners under oversight from the national regulator – the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

“Our initial vertical takeoff and landing testing was focused on UAE-specific performance conditions, including high temperature, humidity and dust exposure, as we work to ramp commercial operations in the country,” said Thomas Paul Muniz, chief technology officer, Archer.

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The company aims to launch its first commercial flying taxi in the UAE later this year.

During the second quarter conference call, he said:“In the UAE, we delivered Midnight to Abu Dhabi and commenced flight testing in the region , advancing our relationship with the GCAA. Over the coming months, we will continue our flight test campaign in the country as we work closely with the regulators to receive authorisation for commercial flights ahead of FAA certification.”

Archer CEO Adam Goldstein said the company focused on flights in the 20- to 30-mile range, which are representative of many of the company's planned commercial operations.“We also expanded our flight test programme internationally with our first launch edition operations in the UAE, where we first focused on testing Midnight's performance in Abu Dhabi's extreme summer heat.”

“This is important to validate Midnight's safety and reliability in high heat, high humidity conditions essential for regulatory approval and subsequent commercial operations across the region.”

Under the launch agreements, Archer has delivered its first Midnight to the UAE in June, and it expects to ramp up a small fleet in Abu Dhabi going forward.“This year, we'll continue flight testing in hot weather. We'll train pilots with Etihad, and we'll prepare infrastructure. On the infrastructure side, our strategy isn't to construct and certify new verticals. We don't think that's pragmatic in a place like the UAE that has hundreds of helipads, more than 70 of which are in Abu Dhabi.”

Looking ahead, Priya Gupta, acting CFO and acting principal financial officer and VP of finance, said the company will continue to invest in the build-up of its operational footprint in the UAE to execute on its launch edition and certification plans.“We expect our UAE launch edition to start generating cash inflows later this year.”

Archer is concurrently producing six Midnight aircraft across its supply chain, three of which are in final assembly across its facilities. Archer is building these across its“golden manufacturing line” in Silicon Valley and its high-volume facility in Georgia. In parallel, the FAA continued conducting reviews and inspections of Archer's manufacturing operations as part of the production certificate efforts.

[Correction: The article has been updated to accurately reflect the timeline of testing piloted flights in the country.]

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