Ross, who has pledged\u00a0$10B to transform<\/a>\u00a0West Palm Beach, is not only offering a private golf course and the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami as vertiport locations, but his company,\u00a0Related Ross<\/a>, plans to develop one within its various West Palm Beach developments. Archer expects to start testing rides in the flying taxis, known as eVTOLs, in 2026.<\/p>\n \n Archer Aviation expects to begin test flights by next summer.\n <\/p>\n Ross’ investments\u00a0have already attracted hedge funds, private equity and technology companies with high-paying jobs to the area. But the region’s notorious traffic\u00a0is jeopardizing the momentum \u2014 and with local transit facing funding cuts<\/a>, its leaders are looking to the skies for a solution.<\/p>\n \u201cI think anybody moving to a region has it as a concern, because they associate growth with traffic, but I think we’re trying, and the city and county here are very focused on doing it in a thoughtful way,\u201d\u00a0Related Ross Executive Vice President Jordan Rathlev<\/a> said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s population has\u00a0increased by 8%<\/a> since 2020, and Miami\u2019s population grew\u00a0by more than 10%<\/a> between 2020 and 2024. Congestion has followed.<\/p>\n The average Miami commuter, in boundaries that span from Homestead up to West Palm Beach, spent 93 hours stuck in traffic in 2024,\u00a030 hours more than the average U.S. car commuter,\u00a0according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute\u2019s 2025 Urban Mobility Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the\u00a0region has multiple\u00a0alternative modes of transportation, like the privately owned Brightline train or the Tri-Rail line,\u00a0they haven’t seen enough adoption to alleviate traffic.\u00a0Air taxis, while untested, are seen as part of the solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that we can do to remove existing vehicular demand from our facilities would help congestion, assuming that it is substantive,\u201d said Lily Elefteriadou, director of the University of Florida\u2019s Transportation Institute.<\/p>\n The Florida Department of Transportation has launched an Advanced Air Mobility initiative, which is intended to explore pathways for air transportation via statewide planning, safety coordination and partnering with industry and research institutions.<\/p>\n For Related, which is attracting regional headquarters for tech companies<\/a> like ServiceNow<\/a> to its developments and helping carve the path for a top-20 university like Vanderbilt University<\/a> to establish a presence in the area, the focus is on getting ahead of future congestion and keeping prospective tenants and companies interested in South Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving companies within the eVTOL<\/a> space is important to us as a company, to us as a steward for the city and the county, relative to how we think about mobility options for the long term,\u201d\u00a0Rathlev said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if you’re not thinking about long-term infrastructure, if you’re not thinking about long-term mobility solutions, you’re not thinking about the future,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The shift from\u00a0dismissal\u00a0to acceptance\u00a0has been swift, said JC Asencio, infrastructure and emerging markets partnerships manager for Wisk Aero, another advanced air mobility company and air taxi developer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThree years ago, if I came to some states and told them about this, they’d be like, \u2018What is that? Like The Jetsons?\u2019\u201d Asencio said. \u201cBut now there’s a 37-state coalition called the AAM Multistate Collaborative [to develop safety policies].\u201d<\/p>\n South Florida is a perfect place to launch the service, Archer Head of Government Affairs Melissa McCaffrey wrote in an email to\u00a0Bisnow, because of its\u00a0high level of congestion and a friendly\u00a0regulatory environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n Hard Rock Stadium, formerly Joe Robbie Stadium, opened in 1987 as the home to the Miami Dolphins. It became home to the University of Miami Hurricanes and the Orange Bowl and has hosted concerts for Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and The Rolling Stones.\n <\/p>\n Archer is looking to connect Miami, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale with 12 vertiports\u00a0across the region.<\/p>\n It already has\u00a0partnerships\u00a0to launch from\u00a0Stuart Witham Field Airport, Palm Beach International Airport, Boca Raton Airport,\u00a0Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport, Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport,\u00a0Miami International Airport<\/a>\u00a0and Miami Executive Airport.<\/p>\n Ross is offering the helipad at his privately owned Apogee Golf Club in Hobe Sound, north of West Palm Beach, and Archer will also offer flights to and from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, which hosts the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami football teams.<\/p>\n While Archer is mainly leveraging existing aviation infrastructure, Ross has agreed to build a vertiport \u2014 a dedicated hub for landing, taking off and charging eVTOL aircraft \u2014 somewhere in downtown West Palm Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rathlev declined to comment on the location or plans for the development, but McCaffrey said Related Ross locations are \u201cmore apt to be mixed-use locations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Archer tapped another developer, Dragon Global, to develop a vertiport site in the planned Magic City Innovation District, a transit-oriented development with residential, office and retail buildings in Miami\u2019s Little Haiti neighborhood. Dragon Global didn’t respond to\u00a0Bisnow’s request for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cOur plan is to take a crawl, walk, run approach,\u201d McCaffrey said. \u201cEarly deployment next year would be low rate of operations utilizing existing aviation infrastructure for point-to-point flights, so there would be minimal impact.\u201d<\/p>\n Rides, which would be booked through an app, would cost about $200 per person to start. As operations grow, McCaffrey said\u00a0those prices\u00a0are expected to decrease.<\/p>\n Archer’s\u00a0aircraft, dubbed Midnight, would transport four people and reach speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. A flight from Miami to West Palm Beach would take about 30 minutes. Archer expects to\u00a0begin test flying as soon as next year once it receives its\u00a0Federal Aviation Administration<\/a>\u00a0certification.<\/p>\n Archer, which is also pursuing air taxi networks in Los Angeles, New York City and Abu Dhabi, is aiming to open operations up to the public by 2028, Rathlev said.<\/p>\n The ambitious timing is underscored by\u00a0the\u00a0Trump administration’s embrace of eVTOLs.<\/p>\n U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a new program this year that would fast-track the eVTOL testing process needed for certifications with the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n![\"Placeholder\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/placeholder.png\")
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