test -UAE: Flying taxi operations likely to be launched later this year

Dr Talib Alhinai, general manager for the UAE, Archer Aviation, also said they’re “looking forward to launch the first electric air taxi services this year here in the UAE. Abu Dhabi is the first launch market for us globally. Beyond that, we're also looking to launch in the US with the Los Angeles Olympics and a few other markets such as New York, Miami, and others.”

They were speaking during panel discussions at the Unmanned Systems Exhibition (UMEX) and Simulation and Training Exhibition (SimTEX) taking place at Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre.

Currently, Archer Aviation and Joby are the frontrunners to launch flying taxis in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, thanks to the forward-looking policies and regulations of the government. The companies previously announced plans to roll out air taxi services in the UAE in the first quarter of 2026. But this has been delayed to the later part of this year due to the certification process to ensure the highest safety aspect of passengers and residents.

Alhinai noted that Archer has a design studio where the company not only looks into designing the aircraft and other aspects, but it also looks at aspects related to passenger experience.

“One of the very important things is we want our Midnight aircraft to feel much more like you're stepping into a car than stepping up into a helicopter. How smooth the flight and transition are, are all factors that we’re looking into testing. We fly Midnight every day in California, US, and we have flown in Abu Dhabi, and transitioned over to Al Ain,” he said, adding that in the next stage, Archer will bring over its pilot aircraft to the UAE this summer for in-country tests in advance of starting our passenger operations.

Archer’s UAE general manager noted that Emirates is a great test bed for this technology, because the regulator, ecosystem, and partners work together to allow this to happen and for the UAE to be the first place where passenger operations are available.