Delta Air Lines has pledged an “upfront equity investment” of $60 million to Joby Aviation as part of the airline’s commitment to “home-to-airport transportation service” for its customers. Starting with its New York and Los Angeles markets, Delta called the link-up with Joby a “first-of-its-kind arrangement” in which the companies will work together to offer “the opportunity to reserve a seat for seamless, zero-operating-emission, short-range journeys to and from city airports when booking Delta travel.”
Joby lays claim to being the first eVTOL company to be granted FAA G-1 (Stage 4) Certification Basis for its aircraft, and was recently awarded Part 135 air carrier certification.
Delta’s total investment could expand to up to $200 million, the airline said, “as the partners achieve substantive milestones on the development and delivery of the service.” The partnership will remain “mutually exclusive” across the U.S. and U.K. for five years following commercial launch, “with the potential to extend that period,” Delta said.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said, “We’ve found in Joby a partner that shares our pioneering spirit and commitment to delivering innovative, seamless experiences that are better for our customers, their journeys, and our world.”
Since LA, SF, and NY have been such criminally bad stewards of everything on their street level, their “plan” is to now fill the city skies with incessant buzzing? All I can think of is a vision of hell on Earth.
In those cities, those eVTOL’s would just be targets by those criminally bad stewards!
Have you rode aboard an airliner out of KSNA? What a ridiculous procedure those pilots have to undergo to keep the homeowners happy. I flew out of that field one time, and I just kept the Cardinal RG at full power during the climb. Those folks can eat my dust….
So … you’re on a Delta flight leaving LAX for points not important but you live in Hollyweird and need to get to LAX. SO WHAT … you order up a Joby and it lands where … in the street in front of your house in the hills, or in the parking lot of the nearby WalMart or … just where? Maybe you’re on the 405 and are late for a Delta flight so you order up a Joby and it lands next to your car and wisks you away? And the claim that the service is a “seamless, zero emission short range journey” is ridiculous AND laughable. This incessant preoccupation with ‘green’ everything electric vertical air movement is now getting out of hand.
The people running Delta have lost their minds IMHO. And soon … $60M.
Oh, but notice they are tinkering with the language. It is now “zero operating emission”. The key word “operating” lets them continue the lie. No stink here, where’s my halo?
Noticed that too.
How can a 135 certificate be issued to this company? Is the Joby a standard certified aircraft? Do they have established operational practices deemed safe for the traveling public by the FAA? Genuinely curious…
I believe they got their certificate using a Cirrus SR22. They hope to add the Joby later. This allows them to gain the 135 using a conventional aircraft now possible to claim the first to have the 135 even though the Joby aircraft isnt on it. It would though save time later.
You are correct. As Avweb previously reported, Joby has a Cirrus on its 135 certificate. That doesn’t mean anything about its electric helicopter.
NYC. You can’t even find a parking spot for a car. Do you wait outside your highrise watching the thing hover until a driver leaves so it can land?
Suburbs. You could have the device dispatched with instructions to land in your yard, and get all the leaves raked … uhhh… sent somewhere else… in the process. It might even clean out your gutters. So much for the misconception that these gizmos are impractical.
I wonder how all of these eVTOLS with only a few electrically powered propellers will fly if one fails. In Joby’s case, if one of the tail rotors stops can it maintain pitch stability and land safely? Maybe I’m wrong but, it also doesn’t look capable of a power off glide.
I watched both BlackFly flights at Airventure this summer. Indeed, it did get aloft but it sure seemed like it was like balancing a bowling ball on the head of a pin. THIS thing would be no different.
I don’t get it. Home service? As someone mentioned, exactly where does it land? It’s a fairly big machine. In the street? Would it not block traffic? Powerlines, trees, rotors sticking out in all directions. Would a city permit this? It looks like a helicopter could already do this. Maybe I totally misunderstand.
roger, you nailed it.
If all current helicopters are not being used for this right now, then adding a battery won’t change anything.
With all those propellers can you just imagine multiple bird strikes? More electric nonsense.
It would be really informative if these parties would provide a technical explanation and supporting data regarding how, when, and why they are going to do this. As a stockholder, I demand to see the support data that justifies this expenditure of substantial corporate (shareholder) funds. There has to be some detailed documentation of how they are going to surmount all the issues as raised above, that is assuming the craft will ever be produced and certified in the first place. We can muse on AvWeb about this stuff but there has to be accountability to the bottom line at Delta or any other airline or participant. This is not private venture capital.
Did you write to Delta with your demands?
As a $JOBY shareholder I approve of the investment. We found a JOBY installation with full charging capability, maintenance area and full-sized sim trainer at KSGH last summer. If $JOBY does nothing other than move passengers from small regional and county airports to major hubs, transports critical patients to hospitals and some aerial surveillance or similar it will likely be a screaming success. That said, I have a cleared space in my driveway for a $JOBY to land and take me directly to my hangar. Consider picking up a few shares $JOBY before it gets away from you. Obvious $TSLA acquisition target.
WOW! TOUGH CROWD! But then, the readers of AvWeb are the realists. File this story under “dreamers and fiction.” I would find it hard to believe ANYTHING Delta announced after this.
What NEXT–“TELEPORTATION?”
Does the term “Non compos mentis” have any special meaning for the supporters of these comic-book believers of these wild schemes?
Pure escapist fantasy. I can’t even imagine how one might do this on a flight simulator! I know for sure that 1) my back yard is not big enough; 2) my street has too many trees, and 3) my alley is too narrow, not to mention the electrical poles and wires. Maybe the darn thing could sort of hover and lower a bosun’s chair on a winch? Wouldn’t the prop wash, not to mention inclement and/or really cold weather, sort of limit this? But hey!, our “information age” has flooded the data market with so much unvetted malarkey that rational choices are being hijacked all over the world. Somewhere, the old saw, “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time” has been eroded into “you can fool more people than you can’t–all of the time.”
“Beam me up, Scotty”.
Add four fanjets and they’ll have six-a-turnin’ and four a-burnin’.
When this dream was first proposed, it was “City Center to City Center” transport. Then it was “Park here and take this from near your home to the airport.” This is “A solution in search of a problem.”
What is never mentioned is that after your RETURN airline flight, you’ll have to take one of these back to the “vertiport”. Imagine doing that late at night–in bad weather–with large suitcases. Easier to just drive to the airport.
How do I charter a Joby Air Cirrus SR22?
They announced receiving an FAA Part 135 Air Taxi Certificate nearly 6 months ago:
https://www.avweb.com/recent-updates/evtols-urban-mobility/joby-receives-part-135-certificate/
You would figure Joby would want a little Air Taxi experience before they start flying eVTOLs all over the city in 2024? Maybe they mean Q4 of 2024?