Today's Edition
KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (ABU DHABI)
Archer Aviation has completed the first urban test flight of its electric air taxi in Abu Dhabi, marking a major milestone in the UAE’s ambition to lead the future of air mobility. The successful vertical take-off and landing flight was carried out at Al Bateen Executive Airport in the heart of the city at 7am, with Archer executives and Abu Dhabi officials hailing it as a critical first step towards commercial launch.
“This is our first global launch market. This was a vertical take-off and landing flight - the first step in our flight test operation,” Dr. Talib Alhinai, General Manager for Archer Aviation in the UAE, told Aletihad following the flight.
Conducting the flight in real UAE conditions was crucial to proving the viability of the concept, Dr. Alhinai said.
“Our initial flight test operations in the UAE are focusing on evaluating the aircraft's speed, core performance in specific conditions, including humidity, temperature, and dust exposure. This also allows us to validate readiness for commercial deployment,” he said.
The tests carried out in Abu Dhabi’s summer environment would be key to ensuring the air taxi can perform reliably year-round. Expanding the trial programme is already underway, Dr. Alhinai said, with plans to expand the flight envelope and test pilot sites in the UAE throughout the year.
“This test flight took place in Abu Dhabi city executive airport with the backdrop of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. According to my knowledge, no eVTOL flight has taken place in an urban environment in Abu Dhabi before,” he said.
Al Bateen airport is right in the middle of Abu Dhabi Island, and for us, this was a great first step and a great first place to launch our programme.”
Roadmap for Urban Operations
Initial passenger services are set to launch within Abu Dhabi city, before the network is expanded, Dr. Alhinai said.
While the full list of vertiport locations remains under wraps for now, Archer says the initial network will offer urban connectivity for residents and visitors, with further details expected to be announced soon.
Dr. Alhinai also highlighted Archer’s collaboration with local stakeholders to integrate air taxis seamlessly into the capital’s broader mobility network. This was echoed by Omran Malek, Head of the Smart Autonomous Vehicle Industry Cluster at the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), a major stakeholder in Archer.
The emirate is building an entire ecosystem for urban air mobility, covering training, maintenance, regulatory integration, and manufacturing, Malek said.
Drawing an analogy with the evolution of smartphones, he explained that air taxis are no longer an imaginary concept; they now represent a future industry.
“Think about the iPhones at the time in the early 2000s: If I told you then how much the iPhone is doing now, you would say that’s impossible,” he told Aletihad on Wednesday.
“What we’re doing, especially within ADIO and the SAVI cluster, is imagining what the next 20 years are going to look like in terms of mobility, logistics, and liveability.”
Malek argued that amid population growth and higher traffic volumes, skyward would be the way to go. “If we look at the airspace above you, it is empty. It’s unutilised. How can we tap into that? How can we reduce emissions? How can we reduce the travel time?” he said.
Malek emphasised that urban air mobility would not be an exclusive service for the wealthy. Rather, it would be priced at a point that could make it a real alternative for many Abu Dhabi residents, he said.
The goal, he added, is to build enough infrastructure and air vehicles so that “it will be scalable, and you can use it on a daily basis.”
Outlining multiple potential use cases, he cited that air taxis could also serve sectors such as tourism, logistics, and healthcare for urgent medical deliveries.
“As battery technologies evolve, you will see the range of [use cases] extending, and you would have a choice between taking the high-speed train from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah or taking air taxi,” he said.
Beyond Air Taxis
Malek emphasised that these air mobility trials are driven by a clear goal of commercialisation.
“We are not testing just to test. We’re testing to commercialise. We identified that 70% of demand is on logistics, from food delivery to blood supplies and shore-to-ship deliveries,” he said.
To assess demand for air mobility services, he noted that Abu Dhabi has conducted a comprehensive survey involving 52 government entities. The resulting data is guiding ADIO’s priorities as it works with private sector partners like Archer.
Beyond air taxis, Malek said the SAVI cluster is working on use cases for drones in logistics that could be in service even sooner.
“If we specifically talk about Archer, that’s the next milestone in the coming months. If we’re talking about the drones and drone logistics, it will be a lot sooner than that.”
