Archer Aviation this week gave a preview of the air taxis it plans to build in Georgia as it races to open its electric aircraft manufacturing plant in Covington by late October.
The “show plane” Archer displayed Thursday at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Chamblee is a mock-up that doesn’t fly, but it gives officials a glimpse of a vision for the future of aviation that the state has offered millions of dollars in incentives to be built in Georgia.
Santa Clara, California-based Archer is getting an incentive package worth about $37 million, including tax incentives and state grant funding, in exchange for a commitment to invest $118 million over 10 years and create up to 1,000 jobs.
The $65 million plant under construction near Covington Municipal Airport about 30 miles east of Atlanta is about 350,000 square feet.
Glen Burks, vice president of operations at Archer, said there were some delays in construction of the facility due to weather, but walls have now been erected and the roof has been installed on the building.
So far there have been just a handful of employees hired for the plant. They’ll be trained in California before they build test aircraft at the Georgia facility once it opens.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Those test aircraft will be used as part of Archer’s effort to get certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for its piloted four-passenger electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft called Midnight. The company now targets getting that certification in 2026, and to start carrying passengers on air taxi flights shortly thereafter.
Archer has agreements with Southwest Airlines and United, looking toward air taxi service in California and Chicago, respectively.
But the burgeoning eVTOL industry faces plenty of challenges along the way toward an envisioned future in which air taxis whisk passengers on short routes, such as between downtown “vertiports” and airports.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Burks acknowledged that during the test flight process, he expects the data that comes back could drive changes in the design of the aircraft. “The risk is the unknown,” he said.
In Covington, among the challenges Archer will likely face over the long term is attracting enough skilled technicians to fill the jobs it plans.
“There’s always this perception that people have in the back of their mind... (that) it’s a very rural location and very isolated, and not much happening,” Burks said. But, he said it helps to show that it is within driving distance of Athens and Atlanta, for nightlife and other activities.
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