Tag: Archer Aviation

SANTA MONICA—The city of Santa Monica may soon witness the future of transportation, as air taxi company Archer Aviation eyes the city as a key destination in an electric flight network built for the 2028 Olympics. The company’s all-electric “Midnight” aircraft is designed to take off and land vertically in urban settings. At first glance, it looks like a hybrid of a drone, a plane, and a helicopter combined into a single aircraft.

The “Midnight” can carry four passengers and one pilot at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. Archer notes the aircraft produces significantly less noise than a conventional helicopter. The company wants to use the air taxi to shuttle residents and visitors between Santa Monica and destinations across Southern California, such as LAX, downtown Los Angeles, and Orange County, in trips as short as 10 to 20 minutes.

The aircraft is electric; they operate with zero operating emissions. The city of Santa Monica has been named in Archer’s network plans since 2024, ahead of what is expected to be the biggest global event the region has ever hosted.

For a city that has fought for decades to reduce noise levels and aviation-related emissions, the timing of this announcement could be significant. Santa Monica could help pioneer clean urban flight at a moment when the world’s attention is turned to Los Angeles.

Santa Monica is listed as a possible site, nothing is finalized, and no agreement between Archer and the city of Santa Monica has been made public.

By Milan Manesh

SANTA MONICA—On February 15, Archer Aircraft shared the news of their upcoming release of the newest helicopter in the fleet, Midnight. It is a fully electric helicopter designed with with the traveler in mind.

Canyon News initially reached out to Archer Aircraft after learning that the Santa Monica Airport could possibly be one of the first airports to benefit from Midnight, the new air taxi. Hannah Dahlstrom of the Archer Aircraft team responded with the following statement and information.

“Archer’s ultimate goal is to transform urban travel, replacing 60–90-minute commutes by car with estimated 10-20 minute electric air taxi flights that are safe, sustainable, low noise, and cost-competitive with ground transportation. Archer’s Midnight is a piloted, four-passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time between flights. We are currently certifying Midnight with the FAA and plan to bring our electric air taxi to market in 2025.”

The air taxi is advertised as one that will take off like a helicopter, and fly like an airplane. IT has all electric tilt-propeller technology. Archer Aviation is currently certifying with the FAA. Archer is predicting flying cars in New York City and Los Angeles as soon as 2025.

“We are currently working through the final stages of certification with the FAA to ensure our aircraft meet the highest levels of safety before they go to mass use.”

Reports indicate that Archer Aviation will be partnering with Atlantic Aviation with their air taxi traveling out of Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) as it is one of the Atlantic Aviations greatest assets.

Archer Aviation’s home base is located at 190 W. Tasman Drive in San Jose, California.

According to their Instagram account, the Archer CEO and founder, Adam Goldstein kicked off the @dubai_airshow_official by sharing Archer’s vision for the electric air taxi operations in the UAE region in partnership with @investindubai.

The idea of the air-taxi is to take would be travelers that would normally have to drive an hour to 90 minutes one way down to a 20-minute trip. The air-taxi is all electric, and its parts are what has been referred to as a “fully redundant,” meaning that one part breaking down, will not cause an engine fail.

The helicopters are made to be able to have a quick turn around. The engines only need approximately 12 minutes charging time between flights allowing them to make multiple flights in a days time.

A gasoline-free air-taxi by 2025 may be the answer for Californians who have turned to electric vehicles following Governor Newsom’s ban on new gas stations. The electric cars have lost their charge too quickly leaving motorist stranded and not enough charging stations to accommodate the need.

The Governor has since promised to end oil and gas fracking in the state of California by the end of 2024.

For more information on Midnight the air-taxi, or to find out about careers visit Archer Aviation website.

By Sharon