Every time I come across a story about flying taxis, I learn something new.
[Arlington] Mayor Jim Ross announced with dramatic flair during his State of the City address in October that the city will take commercial transit to the skies by 2026. Experts told KERA News that might be a stretch, but it’s not implausible.
The air taxis would be based out of Arlington’s airport, according to the city.
The most likely scenario is that Arlington has the equipment and infrastructure for special demonstrations during the World Cup, according to Ernest Huffman, aviation planning and education program manager at North Central Texas Council of Governments.
Huffman said getting flying taxis to Arlington won’t depend as much on determination or hard work by city leaders as regulations and technology.
“There’s a few things that we’re going to need in place,” Huffman said. “We’re not looking to have flying taxis as a viable transportation mode for the World Cup games. All we’re looking to do is demonstrate the technology for the World Cup games.”
[…]
The Federal Aviation Administration told KERA News in an emailed statement that it’s been working to get regulations ready for flying taxis. The agency has already made progress, finalizing rules for flying taxi pilot and instructor qualifications. Most of them are expected to be electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL.
The administration has also been working with three companies to approve designs for eVTOL taxis. Archer Aviation and Joby are the furthest along, with certification expected soon.
[…]
Huffman said the biggest hurdles to clear will be regulations.
Flying taxis won’t require too much special infrastructure. Much of what they would need is easy to build.
Takeoff and landing happen at one of two places: vertipods and vertiports.
Vertipods would be most commonly seen and would look similar to a helicopter pad. In Arlington, they might be in places like a parking lot at one of the stadiums, downtown or somewhere at UT Arlington’s campus. They don’t need to be flashy as long as they provide a safe designated place to land.
Vertiports will require a bit more. Huffman said they’ll be two or three stories tall and offer places to park and charge eVTOL aircraft. They’re more likely to be seen at major airports but could also be found in downtown areas with taller buildings where the elevation would be a benefit.
Huffman said neither of those will create too many issues when implementing flying taxis.
Those regulations will be the toughest hurdle for cities like Arlington.
Each company producing eVTOL aircraft will have to get certification from the FAA, and that can take years.
Price will be an obstacle when eVTOL does become available.
Jinzhu Yu, an assistant professor of civil engineering at UT Arlington, said early adopters should expect to pay high prices for trips through the skies of North Texas. He’s been working with the Council of Governments in research to predict the price of flying taxis.
“What we’re looking at in terms of passenger per mile, the range is pretty wide,” Yu said.
Right now, that range looks to be about $4 per mile to $11 per mile for passengers. Uber is expected to charge around $5.70 per mile.
“If we use that number in our model, there will be very few flying taxi trips,” Yu said. “Flying taxis are similar to other technologies where in the very beginning it’s very expensive but as technology improves or infrastructure develops, those costs are going to go down.”
In the end, he expects Uber will try to make it below $3 per mile. In the long run, eVTOL is expected to relieve traffic congestion, reduce emissions and draw tourists who might come to Arlington just to try out flying taxis.
Earlier this month I learned what a “vertiport” is, and now I see that I didn’t have its complete definition. I suspect some of that places that I had thought were vertiports are actually vertipods instead. The more you know!
Aviation guy Huffman says in this story that he doesn’t think flying taxis will have regulatory approval for public use until 2027, which would be too late for the FIFA World Cup. But his wording makes me think that private use could be in play. Given the discussion in this story about the price point for this service, all my questions about who the market is for this remain.
That said, depending on the range of these aircraft and the future adoption of other types of aircraft, I could see the market for longer trips being potentially pretty robust. A lot of that I think will depend on how convenient and affordable it is to get to and from the vertiports/vertipods, since the main competition at least at first is just driving yourself from, say, Houston to Galveston or one far-flung part of the Metroplex to another. The flying part of it may well be fun and relaxing, but the first and last miles count, too.
Another point mentioned in this story is the noise factor. The comp for an individual eVTOL is a refrigerator, which we can all agree is pretty quiet overall, but in the aggregate that could be quite noisy. That said, in comparison to any main road, or especially a highway, it’s likely a lot less bothersome. But it could mean bringing that noise to places that are much quieter now, and it will be an add-on rather than a replacement. We’ll just have to see what it’s like.
Missed opportunity from the paper to highlight that Arlington might have air transit before fixed route surface transit.