{"id":475126,"date":"2026-10-24T04:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T04:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/475126\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T04:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T04:18:08","slug":"archer-plans-to-bring-air-taxis-to-austin-houston-and-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/475126\/","title":{"rendered":"Archer plans to bring air taxis to Austin, Houston and Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Archer Aviation<\/a> plans to bring its electric air taxi service to Austin, Houston, and Dallas, and Austin could see its first flights as early as next year.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s Midnight aircraft is designed to take off vertically like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. It has 12 propellers and room for a pilot and four passengers, Archer Chief Commercial Officer Nikhil Goel said. He described the aircraft as \u201ca Tesla with wings\u201d that can fly at 150 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

“This is going to change the way that we live and work and travel here in America, and Austin is a prime market for it,” said Goel.<\/p>\n

\"Archer<\/p>\n

Archer plans to bring its Midnight aircraft to Texas, which would serve as air taxis in Austin, Houston and Dallas (Photo: Archer)<\/p>\n

In Austin, Archer is looking to partner with Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) and Austin Executive Airport to begin flying passengers to Circuit of the Americas for big events like Formula 1. <\/p>\n

ALSO | Ground delay issued at Austin airport amid busy U.S. Grand Prix, Texas football weekend<\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Perry, executive director of both the Houston and Austin Executive Airports, said Archer has approached the airport about operating out of his Austin airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited,\u201d Perry said. \u201cWe hope it starts working out for them, and I know they want to come in and start their operations at some point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry said Austin Executive Airport is welcoming visitors from around the world and expects between 500 and 600 operations this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Archer<\/p>\n

Archer plans to bring its Midnight aircraft to Texas, which would serve as air taxis in Austin, Houston and Dallas (Photo: Archer)<\/p>\n

With thousands of visitors traveling to Austin for Circuit of the Americas this weekend, Goel said an air taxi flight could shorten a long trip down gridlocked I-35 to minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupposedly on Sunday, it\u2019s going to take two hours to get to the race,\u201d Goel said. \u201cYou\u2019d be able to fly there in five minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archer hopes to, eventually, make air taxi rides accessible and affordable for everyday passengers. Citing the aircraft\u2019s electric power and lower maintenance costs, Goel says prices could be comparable to ride-share prices many already pay.<\/p>\n

“Because this is all electric, there’s no fuel. It is dramatically lower maintenance costs, and so you’re gonna be able to take one of these trips for the same price as an Uber Black,” said Goel.<\/p>\n

Safety ‘very, very important,’ says Archer CCO<\/p>\n

“Safety is very, very important to us,” Goel said. “The aircraft [has] 12 propellers and that means it’s full redundancy. So something were to happen to one of those propellers, the other propellers still operate as normal and that helps ensure that our passengers are going to stay safe and…safely airborne.”<\/p>\n

The rollout would be gradual, Goel said, with both pilots and aircraft undergoing FAA certification before the service launches.<\/p>\n

MORE | Apple CEO visits Austin as first foldable iPhone goes on sale<\/a><\/p>\n

To staff its fleet, Goel said Archer will work with its major airline partners like Southwest and United Airlines. <\/p>\n

He said a gig as a Midnight aircraft pilot may even be more attractive to some pilots than the demanding schedule of flying commercial planes.<\/p>\n

“You might have a shift, call it nine to five or four to seven, and you can fly for just a few hours and be home for dinner and sleep in your own bed every night,” said Goel.<\/p>\n

\"Archer<\/p>\n

Archer plans to bring its Midnight aircraft to Texas, which would serve as air taxis in Austin, Houston and Dallas (Photo: Archer)<\/p>\n

He says the company’s vision has seen support from both President Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.<\/p>\n

“At the federal level, the White House has passed an executive order that is going to enable us to fly in cities over the next year,” said Goel. “Texas is one of the first chosen markets for that, and that’s what’s going to unlock the ability for us to fly in and around Texas, especially Austin.”<\/p>\n

President Trump signed Executive Order 14307 in June 2025. Titled “Unleashing American Drone Dominance,” the order authorized the Secretary of Transportation to establish an Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program in coordination with the FAA.<\/p>\n

The federal action accelerates the development and commercial testing of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis and uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS).<\/p>\n

“Senator Ted Cruz is a really big supporter of the industry…his support has gone a long way to making sure we can roll this out safely and quickly,” said Goel.<\/p>\n

While there is not yet a launch date set for Austin, Goel says the city could see its first flights as early as next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Archer Aviation plans to bring its electric air taxi service to Austin, Houston, and Dallas,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-475126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}