Good morning. It\u2019s Tuesday. Today we\u2019ll look at an air taxi that flew from Kennedy International Airport to Manhattan. We\u2019ll also get details on today\u2019s primary in New Jersey, where four Democrats are running for the chance to face Representative Thomas Kean Jr., a Republican, in November. Kean hasn\u2019t been seen since March and is being treated for what aides describe as a \u201cpersonal medical issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The electric aircraft rises from the ground like a helicopter, its six propellers facing the sky. Then, after a presto-change-o moment that positions them to face forward, it flies like an airplane.<\/p>\n
The aircraft was put through its paces on a test flight from Kennedy International Airport that Jeanny Pak, the interim president and chief executive of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said was \u201cproof that the future of advanced air mobility is no longer a Jetsons-esque fantasy \u2014 it\u2019s already here.\u201d The E.D.C. controls two of the city\u2019s three heliports.<\/p>\n
Joby Aviation, the company that built the aircraft, sees it as the centerpiece of an air taxi service<\/a> that is quieter and cleaner than one with conventional helicopters. It envisions a fleet on the routes that Blade Air Mobility now flies from J.F.K. to the three heliports in Manhattan. On a test flight in April, a Joby air taxi with only the pilot aboard made the trip in less than 10 minutes.<\/p>\n Blade is perhaps best known as a traffic beater for people with money to spend on the way to places like the Hamptons. But Joby says a typical New York commuter lost 102 hours to traffic congestion last year. It says flights from J.F.K. could help airline passengers reclaim some of that time. Taking the AirTrain and the subway from J.F.K. to Manhattan also takes time \u2014 about an hour during the evening rush.<\/p>\n Vertical takeoff and landing<\/p>\n My colleague Niraj Chokshi, who trailed the Joby on the test flight, says that it\u2019s unusual to see an aircraft designed from scratch<\/a> take to the sky. Most commercial airlines were developed decades ago and have been updated since then.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all that\u2019s unusual about the Joby. On takeoff the propellers keep whirling as the pods holding them, called electric propulsion units, go from their horizontal position to their vertical flying mode. And, because the air taxis are all-electric, Joby says they produce no emissions, unlike helicopters.<\/p>\n Advanced air mobility projects like the Joby are getting a boost from the Trump administration, which doesn\u2019t want the U.S. to lose out to other countries, particularly China. Last year the administration set up a program to encourage states, cities and companies to join forces in rolling out electric aircraft.<\/p>\n Then, in March, the Transportation Department chose eight projects, including the one that let Joby put on the demonstration flight in April. Joby has teamed up with Toyota on manufacturing. And Joby bought Blade\u2019s passenger business last year<\/a> in a transaction valued at up to $125 million, making Blade a wholly owned subsidiary that gives Joby access to Blade\u2019s routes and customers on its short-distance routes in New York as well as in southern Europe.<\/p>\n The Port Authority weighs in<\/p>\n The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the three major airports in the New York area, said that advanced air mobility had the potential to move people and goods in or between urban areas, and to do so more efficiently than conventional modes of transportation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe operate some of the busiest airports in the world, and with that comes a responsibility to think seriously about what aviation looks like in the decades ahead for our passengers, our communities and for the environment,\u201d Kathryn Garcia, the executive director of the Port Authority, said in a statement. She called the demonstration flight \u201cone data point in a larger body of work we\u2019re building around next-generation electric aviation.\u201d<\/p>\n Will air taxis become as universal as, well, taxis? That will probably depend on economics, and the aircraft will probably be more expensive to manufacture than helicopters, at least at first. They will have relatively limited range \u2014 about 100 miles or so, and relatively limited uses, again at least at first.<\/p>\n And there is the question of when the Federal Aviation Administration will approve such aircraft. As Laurie Garrow, an engineering professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who focuses on aviation, put it: \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be like we look out our window and there\u2019s flying cars everywhere.\u201d Advanced air mobility craft could go into service in the next two to five years, she said.<\/p>\n Weather<\/p>\n Expect a sunny day with a high near 77. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low around 61.<\/p>\n ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING<\/p>\n In effect until June 19 (Juneteenth).<\/p>\n QUOTE OF THE DAY<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re truly going to attack income inequality, help to lift New Yorkers up and address the affordability crisis, we have to make a much larger investment for these children.\u201d \u2014 Julie Menin, the speaker of the City Council, on a plan to give children in New York City up to $3,000 toward their college education.<\/a><\/p>\n The latest New York news<\/p>\n It\u2019s Primary Day in New Jersey<\/p>\n The path to a House majority runs through swing districts like New Jersey\u2019s Seventh Congressional District, which stretches across the state\u2019s midsection. It\u2019s now held by Representative Thomas Kean Jr., a Republican who has not been seen for months on Capitol Hill or on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n His absence has put more of a spotlight on what was already the most competitive House race in New Jersey.<\/p>\n But first there is today\u2019s primary. Kean is running unopposed on the Republican side. Four Democrats are competing for the chance to unseat him:<\/p>\n Rebecca Bennett, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot and aircraft commander<\/p>\n Michael Roth, who led the Small Business Administration under Joe Biden<\/p>\n Tina Shah, a physician who has worked as an adviser in the office of the surgeon general and the Department of Veterans Affairs<\/p>\n Brian Varela, who runs a network of child-care centers and wants to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency<\/p>\n Since March, Kean has missed more than 100 floor votes in the House while being treated for what his aides have called a \u201cpersonal medical issue.\u201d They have refused to describe the issue, beyond saying that he is expected to recover fully and return to work soon. He spoke to the political news site New Jersey Globe on May 21, saying that he expected to return to Congress and to his campaign \u201cin the next couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n His spokesman said last week that Kean had cast his ballot in the primary by mail.<\/p>\n METROPOLITAN diary<\/p>\n Passing through<\/p>\n Dear Diary:<\/p>\n I had had an emotionally dense week in Connecticut selling off my late father\u2019s belongings to pay for his funeral. I was stopping in New York to see my sister and some high school friends before heading home to California.<\/p>\n I dragged two large duffel bags down the stairs of a subway station in Harlem, one filled with what had been treasures of my father\u2019s and now belonged to me.<\/p>\n Seeing a train about to depart, I resigned myself to missing it. I had no idea how to navigate the turnstiles with all that luggage.<\/p>\n Just then, a younger guy kicked open the gate so I could pass.<\/p>\n I followed him onto the train, where he let his foot hang in the doorway to make sure I made it. He caught my nod of thanks, put in his earbuds and jammed away.<\/p>\n Many hours and pints with my friends later, I was standing on a different platform at 2 a.m., fueling up on coconut water and Doritos before retreating to my sister\u2019s air mattress.<\/p>\n Two punk-looking guys crossed my path.<\/p>\n \u201cHey,\u201d one of them said, \u201cyou look like you\u2019d be a really good dad.\u201d<\/p>\n Somehow, New York always knows what you need.<\/p>\n \u2014 Peter Mackell<\/p>\n Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here<\/a> and read more Metropolitan Diary here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. It\u2019s Tuesday. Today we\u2019ll look at an air taxi that flew from Kennedy International Airport to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[66625,3347,97532,416,859,97533,98416,84247,75,84,83,1066,9,24,56,63,1875,98417,10921],"class_list":["post-252160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-airlines-and-airplanes","tag-airports","tag-blade-inc","tag-elections","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-joby-aero-inc-joby-aviation","tag-kean","tag-kennedy-international-airport-queens","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-primaries-and-caucuses","tag-thomas-h-jr","tag-travel-and-vacations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}