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Electric air taxi makers are having a busy week filled with test flights and production news as a slew of companies look to revolutionize aerial transportation. Boeing’s air taxi unit, Wisk Aero, on Tuesday completed test flights for its sixth-generation eVTOL. Joby on Thursday revealed a partnership to build more than two-dozen vertiport platforms in the U.S.
The news comes after Joby on Wednesday announced plans to double its U.S. production capacity by 2027. Vertical Aerospace (EVTL) received a price target hike on Monday. The string of news comes after Archer Aviation (ACHR) last week struck an agreement to accelerate electric air taxi deployment in Saudi Arabia.
Boeing‘s (BA) wholly-owned subsidiary, Wisk Aero, on Tuesday announced that it successfully completed the first flight for its Generation 6 aircraft. The company is developing a fully autonomous (with human oversight) electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi.
Wisk Aero was formed in 2019 as a strategic partnership between the Dow Jones manufacturer and Kitty Hawk Corp. Kitty Hawk was an electric aviation startup backed by Google (GOOGL) cofounder Larry Page, but shut down operations in late 2022.
Wisk Aero aims to be the first to achieve Federal Aviation Administration certification for an autonomous passenger-carrying air taxi, which it intends to commercialize. The company already has launch markets, including Houston, Los Angeles and Miami, according to the release.
Wisk said that the first hover flight on Tuesday marked a “pivotal moment” in the company’s journey to “bring safe, autonomous flight to market.”
Wisk already has more than 1,750 test flights under its belt across its previous five generations of aircraft.
In other Boeing news, the Dow aerospace behemoth expects to deliver the next Air Force One in mid-2028, according to reports. The new VC-25B was originally set for delivery in 2024 following a deal mediated by President Donald Trump, according to Breaking Defense. However, the updated timeline is slightly earlier than the most recent expectations for a 2029 delivery due to delays.
The news comes after the Air Force awarded another $15.5 million for the program, which brings the total contract amount to $4.3 billion. Boeing is set to deliver two of the VC-25Bs, but it is unclear when the second will be delivered.
