Air Taxis

After flying the first production ALIA CX300 electric aircraft last November, BETA Technologies has now zipped four passengers into the John F. Kennedy International Airport, marking a key development milestone.

Horizon’s Cavorite X7 just made aviation history by pulling off the world's first stable fan-in-wing transition flight. The hybrid eVTOL can take off like a helicopter, cruise like a plane, and recharge its batteries mid-flight for quick turnarounds.

Joby Aviation achieved a major milestone on April 22, 2025 when it became the first company to fly an all-electric tilt-rotor eVTOL with a pilot aboard as it transitioned from horizontal to vertical flight and back again.

Archer has its sights set on making air taxis a thing really soon. It's just revealed plans for a network of vertiports from which its electric aircraft can take off and land in NYC – so you can beat street traffic and get around town in minutes.

Tickets for autonomous flights over two tourist spots in China should go on sale shortly. China's civil aviation authority has given the green light for EHang to begin low-altitude commercial operations with its EH216-S eVTOL.

California-based eVTOL startup Joby Aviation is gearing up to fly people from UK airports to nearby cities in England in little air taxis at 200 mph.

If air taxi services ever take off, you might want to hold onto your hat very firmly. A new FAA report looking at various eVTOL prototypes shows that when they take off and land they have a downwash from rotors equivalent to hurricane-force wind.

When we last looked at air taxi startup Lilium, it was in administration and had laid off most of its employees on December 20. Now it seems there was a Christmas miracle on December 24, with investors throwing out a US$206 million lifeline.

On the heels of eVTOL startup Lilium shutting down, air taxi builder Volocopter may close its doors having filed for insolvency due to lack of funds. On December 26, 2024, the Karlsruhe Local Court in Germany placed the company in administration.

German eVTOL startup Lilium has ceased operations as of this week – sunsetting a decade-long effort funded with over $1 billion to build electric air taxis, with nary a single aircraft delivered.

China's EHang has completed what it calls the world's first solid-state battery test in a pilotless passenger-carrying eVTOL. With nearly 500 Wh/kg of energy density, the solid-state battery contributes to a serious boost in endurance.

Austrian flying vehicle tech company CycloTech is building an eVTOL demonstrator to showcase its CycloRotor-powered propulsion system for electric flight. The firm is hoping to commence test flights in early 2025.