Flying air taxis took one step closer to being reality above the skies of New York City.
Joby Aviation (JOBY) on Monday completed the first-ever point-to-point eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) demonstration flights in New York City history, signaling a turning point for urban air mobility in the country’s most congested metropolis.
Flying between John F. Kennedy Airport and Manhattan’s existing heliport network — including Downtown Skyport and the Blade Air Mobility lounge at the West 30th Street Heliport — Joby’s aircraft, dubbed the N545JX, demonstrated routes that could one day shrink a 60-to-120-minute drive to JFK into a seven-minute flight.
Joby stock rose about 3% on Monday.
Eric Allison, Joby’s chief product officer, said it’s a critical proof of concept, with the company targeting passenger flights as soon as the second half of 2026.
“This is how we supercharge this. This is how we are able to scale, both in terms of the cost structure and in terms of the environmental friendliness of this,” Allison said to Yahoo Finance from the Blade Air Mobility lounge. “This is a zero-emissions aircraft, flying from JFK to here and back, but also incredibly low noise. We left the door open when we landed — if you left the door open when a helicopter landed, no one’s happy in the lounge.”
Reporters, Joby officials, and customers witnessed Monday’s midday test flight from the Blade Air Mobility lounge in Midtown, where the company operates traditional helicopter flights, and, eventually, its eVTOL aircraft.
That noise advantage is central to Joby’s pitch. Unlike conventional helicopters, Joby’s aircraft is designed to minimize sound. The all-electric propulsion system is also zero emissions, and Allison argues the aircraft can unlock markets that traditional helicopters can’t.
“There are places where people don’t want helicopters to land,” he said. “With this type of technology, the convenience of vertical flight — being able to book a trip through the Uber app and fly at 200 miles an hour to the airport — you want that closer to you, and that’s critically important for this business.”
Joby acquired the passenger business of helicopter booking service Blade Air Mobility in 2025, gaining access to Blade’s passengers and a network of Manhattan-area heliports.
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Allison said this week that Blade customers waiting for helicopter flights to JFK saw the Joby aircraft land and asked if they could wait and take it instead.
“It just shows there’s so much excitement around this that we just can’t wait to get this thing launched,” he said.
