Joby partnering with Virgin Atlantic to launch air taxi service in the UK
16 March 2025
Joby Aviation, a California-based company developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service, will partner with Virgin Atlantic on the launch of Joby’s air taxi service in the UK. The new partnership builds on an existing agreement between Joby and Delta Air Lines—which owns a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic—to launch service in the US and UK.
The partnership aims to offer seamless, zero-emission, short-range journeys across the UK, starting with regional and city connections from Virgin Atlantic’s hubs at Heathrow and Manchester Airport. Virgin Atlantic will support Joby’s go-to-market efforts in the UK through marketing the service to their customers, engaging regulators alongside Joby and helping to build support for the development of landing infrastructure at key airports.
Joby’s electric air taxi is designed to carry a pilot and up to four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph and the partnership means Virgin Atlantic customers will be able to reserve a seat on Joby’s aircraft through Virgin Atlantic’s app, website and other channels.
Joby’s electric air taxi utilizes six tilting propellers that allow it to take off and land vertically with a fraction of the noise produced by today’s helicopters. The aircraft is optimized for rapid, back-to-back flights and is expected to be deployed on routes of up to 100 miles. Joby has completed thousands of test flights, including exhibition flights in New York City, Japan and Korea.
Journeys in the UK could include a 15-minute flight from Manchester Airport to Leeds, or an 8-minute journey from Heathrow Airport to Canary Wharf, instead of 80 minutes by car. Over time, Joby expects to build out a network of landing locations that offer rapid and convenient travel around cities and communities throughout the UK. Joby expects to offer prices that are comparable with existing premium ground ridesharing options at launch.
An illustration of what a future Joby air taxi network centered around London and Virgin Atlantic’s hub at Heathrow Airport could look like. Credit: Joby Aviation
In 2022, Joby and Delta Air Lines announced a multi-city, commercial and operational partnership to pioneer community-to-airport transportation for customers. While the Joby/Delta partnership is mutually exclusive across the US and UK for at least five years following commercial launch, the partnership has been extended to include Virgin Atlantic in the UK.
Joby exhibited its aircraft for the first time in the UK at the 2024 Farnborough International Airshow, and in July 2022 announced that it formally applied to have its aircraft validated for use by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Please please bring this to NYC, LA, DFW, Houston,Chicago...all those cities have gridlock level traffic with affluent exurbs and suburbs ripe for premium regional travel options. I would pay $100 one way to get picked up in my exurb that is nearly two hours by road in traffic to DFW but would be 18 min as the crow flies. Yeah 100 bucks easy each way my time is worth triple that in billable by the hour. It has taken me 2.5 hours to get from LaGuardia to midtown Manhattan that's 3 min with VTOL again anything less than $200 each way gets paid with a smile.
Anything batteries can do , gas turbine electric/ hybrid could do 5 times more range with jet fuel, it's a physics thing. Tiny battery for just enough amps over a few tens of seconds of time to allow the turbine to spin up to max power on peak demand. The small much lighter than batteries turbine drives a high voltage ,high frequency turbo alternator in SiC rectifier the 6 electric tilt rotors don't know they are being feed HVDC from a turbo alt the tiny pack handles peaks while the turbine spins up or down.
Small gas turbines in the 500kw range can go from idle to 100% in under 10 seconds , and go from 50% to 100% in under 2. Like I said a tiny high C pack to give the turbine enough headway to spin up or down. Then jet fuel with an order of magnitude more energy per KG for every KG delta weight for removed battery weight. 5 times longer range is being conservative , turbines and direct drove turbo alternator in the 200-500kw range are easily 3KW per 1KG in mass for a ten to one mass ratio.
This means a 100KG turbine with direct drive alternator would put out 300KW while burning 200 to 300 grams of fuel per kilowatt-hour. It is immediately apparent how only needing 200 grams of jet fuel from lightweight plastic bladders in the wings and hull per kWh is vastly superior to any battery on the market. Your sunk weight is 100KG for your turbo alt then it's how many kWh can your carry at 200 grams each in fuel. <<<< this is the way.
Posted by: JamesDo88039200 | 16 March 2025 at 05:50 AM