Joby Aviation Inc． An electric air taxi is scheduled to fly this week between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Manhattan to demonstrate its quieter, zero-emission aircraft. According to Joby, these demonstration flights will be the first point-to-point electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOL, voyages in New York.
The company conducted test flights at the city center helipad in 2023. This week, the aircraft will fly along existing helicopter routes operated by Joby's Blade Urban Air Mobility unit without passengers on board.
Joby's electric air taxi flies over New York City.
CEO JoeBen Bevirt said Joby plans to launch passenger flights in New York, Texas and Florida as early as the second half of this year. However, the company needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch commercial operations in the United States, a goal that has been delayed several times in the past.
Bevirt said in an interview that air taxis are "a hundred times quieter than helicopters." He said that unlike the annoying low-frequency roar of a helicopter that shakes buildings, the sound of the Joby aircraft is designed to be "a broadband noise that blends into the background and decays faster over distance."
The company will fly multiple flights over 10 days to implement the promotion, with routes from JFK Airport to the Blade terminals at West 30th Street and East 34th Street at Hudson Yards, as well as the downtown helipad.