Los Angeles: Los Angeles, one of the world’s most traffic-congested major cities, is about to get flying taxis—and the city is preparing to make them part of its official transportation system. American company Archer Aviation and sports and entertainment company AEG have announced plans to build a vertiport in downtown Los Angeles’s famous L.A. LIVE district. A vertiport is essentially a landing and takeoff location where electric air taxis can lift off vertically like helicopters and land directly.
In fact, Archer Aviation has been selected as the official air taxi provider for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. When millions of people arrive in Los Angeles from around the world in 2028, the city will face its biggest challenge: getting people from one place to another quickly. Rather than being stuck in traffic on roads for hours, flying taxis could become a viable alternative.
What Does the Flying Taxi Look Like?
The air taxi Archer Aviation is developing is called Midnight. It’s not a small flying car like you often see in movies. It’s an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft—an eVTOL. In simpler terms, it can rise vertically like a helicopter, but once in the air, it flies forward like an airplane.
It has seating for a pilot and four passengers. The company claims its purpose is to provide short, fast trips within the city. According to Archer, its Los Angeles network aims to convert trips that would take an hour or more by road into 10 to 20-minute flights.
The concept is easy to understand for a city like Los Angeles. People living in Delhi, Mumbai, or Bangalore know that sometimes a 20-kilometer journey can take an hour and a half. Air taxi companies are selling this as the solution to that problem. The idea is simple: if there’s no more room on roads, use the sky above the city.
Can Regular People Afford Flying Taxi Fares?
When you hear “flying taxi,” the first question that comes to mind is whether only billionaires and VIPs will be able to use it. Archer has long aimed to price air taxi services close to premium ride services during the initial launch phase, then reduce prices as operations scale up. In their previous business model, the company stated its target was to bring per-passenger, per-mile costs close to Uber Black or other premium cab services.
So if you normally take a regular Uber when traveling by road, a flying taxi might cost more. However, if you take premium cars like Uber Black, the two costs could eventually become comparable in the future. It’s worth noting that Archer hasn’t released any final public ticket prices for Los Angeles yet.
Less Noise Than Helicopters, Running on Electricity
Archer Midnight is fully electric. The company says it’s designed to operate with less noise compared to traditional helicopters, and it will produce zero emissions during flight. This is why eVTOL companies are promoting it as a more modern and better alternative to helicopters for city use. Midnight features multiple motors and propellers, and the company is developing it with safety requirements comparable to commercial aviation in mind.
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