Saudi Arabia Opens Pathway for Electric Air Taxis

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Electric air taxis may be a dead end idea. I think they probably are. Except in some niche, limited markets and applications. To be honest, though, Saudi Arabia may be one of those markets, and authorities there certainly seem to think so.

The country’s aviation regulator, General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), has now signed an agreement with Archer Aviation to at least create a viable runway (metaphorically) for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) operations. “GACA plans to model its regulatory pathway on the Federal Aviation Administration’s and Department of Transportation’s eVTOL Implementation Pilot Program (eIPP) in order to establish early operations in cities such as Riyadh and Jeddah, as well as gigaprojects such as Red Sea Global, in line with Saudi’s Vision 2030,” a press release from Archer Aviation announces.

“GACA plans to work with Archer to conduct proof-of-concept demonstrations and operational experimental flights as part of the regulatory pathway towards type certification, develop the operating ecosystem and to build public acceptance.” Someone in a leadership position clearly thinks electric aviation like this could be the future, and wants Saudi Arabia to be at the forefront of it rather than a laggard. In general, Saudi Arabia seems intent on being on the front edge of technology these days, which will includes plenty of mistakes and losses, but is enough for the successes that will result.

“This announcement follows Archer’s recent partnership with the Public Investment Fund’s The Helicopter Company to launch eVTOL services with Red Sea Global,” the company adds.

How many electric air taxis will end up being deployed in Saudi Arabia by 2030. I’m not going to guess more than a few dozen, optimistically. I would be surprised if they got into the hundreds. But we’ll keep an eye on it and see. Perhaps I am being a luddite and the number will be in the thousands.

“Aligning this certification work with the FAA and launching early demonstration operations in the Kingdom will help us bring this program to life safely and quickly,” Adam Goldstein, Archer founder and CEO, said. “We look forward to working hand-in-hand with GACA to make the Kingdom one of the world’s first markets to embrace eVTOL aircraft at scale.” Just be sure not to criticize the dear leader….

It seems there could be better places to scale up electric aviation like this, but, on the other hand, I assume Archer Aviation and others like it are looking for any jurisdictions that will open up regulatory pathways and potential markets for them. Fancy electric taxis in the sky could be used by numerous rich people in Saudi Arabia who want to be the first to use the newest, best technology.