Air taxis may be one step closer to taking off — but their flight path in Washington is still murky.
Washington is one of several states participating in a new federal program meant to accelerate the development of the futuristic aircraft and help get the planes certified to fly passengers. Through that program, manufacturers are planning to ramp up testing and data collection operations as soon as this summer.
The so-called air taxis aren’t really flying cars, but they would operate more like an airborne taxi service than a traditional commercial airplane. The aircraft are small, usually seating fewer than 10 people, fly short distances rather than intercontinental routes and often take off vertically, like a helicopter, instead of accelerating down a long runway.
The planes are electric, relying on rechargeable batteries instead of jet fuel. Though most have a pilot in the cockpit, one manufacturer, a subsidiary of Boeing called Wisk Aero, is developing an autonomous air taxi.
Though Washington is one of the states participating in the new federal program, there aren't any firm plans yet for the air taxis to fly here. Still, the Washington State Department of Transportation is optimistic they could be coming.
“It’s still all up in the air,” said David Ison, WSDOT's emerging aviation technology and airport land use planner. “The manufacturers, the challenge with all of them, is they don’t have a lot of aircraft yet. … You can imagine, every state … is begging for them to come to their state, and they can’t do everything.
WSDOT is in “active discussions” with manufacturers, Ison said. “Essentially, we’re building our case why should they come here versus somewhere else, and we have a captive audience.”
These types of aircraft are broadly referred to as Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft, or eVTOLs. The aerospace industry has been promising to bring eVTOLs to passengers for years, but the process has been slow, with some startups running out of money and dropping out of the race, and others missing their own deadlines.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been focused on speeding up the development of eVTOLs and other innovative aircraft, particularly by streamlining the process to get the planes certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Following an executive order issued last year, the FAA created a pilot program that will allow some manufacturers to start collecting data and testing their operations before the planes are certified. In March, the FAA selected eight projects for the pilot program.
The projects are led by each state’s department of transportation and connect governments with aircraft manufacturers to design potential use cases for the eVTOLs. There doesn’t appear to be any funding connected to the program.
Washington is part of a multistate project led by Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation and partnering with Vermont-based Beta Technologies and Virginia-based Electra.aero.
Washington’s participation in the program could lead to eVTOL demonstrations in the state, Ison said, throwing out hypothetical scenarios like bringing an air taxi to fly around when Seattle hosts World Cup matches in June. It's too soon to expect “Uber-like” rides in air taxis, he said.
Down the line, WSDOT envisions using the aircraft to ship people and cargo to the San Juan Islands or other areas where it's not easy to access an airport. The eVTOLs could also supplement Washington’s ferry network, picking up passengers at ferry terminals and flying them the last few miles to their final destinations.
And, the futuristic aircraft could be used to transport emergency medical personnel, speeding up response times in areas without easy access to medical care.
“We obviously want to be champions of transportation options for Washingtonians,” Ison said. “We have huge growth in Seattle and the Puget Sound area and, along with it, the traffic. … There’s still a need for other options.”
Spokespeople for Beta and Electra said they don’t currently have plans to fly their aircraft in Washington.
Beta is participating in seven of the eight pilot projects selected by the FAA and will operate its aircraft in 10 states. Most of those projects will transport medical supplies and cargo.
In Washington, Beta is setting up “ground support equipment,” like charging stations to juice up the aircraft’s batteries, a spokesperson said.
The manufacturer visited Seattle’s Boeing Field in October to show off its conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, which it calls ALIA. It took the plane on a tour of the U.S., introducing it to regional airports and government officials, as it gears up to seek FAA certification for the conventional model, before turning to certification for its vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Unlike Beta and other manufacturers, Electra isn’t working on an eVTOL aircraft. Instead, it is building an “ultrashort” aircraft that uses electric propulsion to take off and land in small spaces. It needs just 150 feet, according to its website, or about half the length of a football field.
Because it's not an eVTOL, Electra’s path to certification is similar to other planes flying today. But it hopes the FAA’s pilot program will help guide regulations needed to land its ultrashort aircraft in nontraditional settings, like a city center or a shopping mall, CEO Marc Allen said.
Through the pilot program, Electra is taking off and landing from a casino in Atlantic City, N.J., a heliport in Manhattan, N.Y., and a barge in Florida.
Though Washington won’t see Electra’s aircraft in the sky, some states signed up to participate in the program so they could benefit from the research that comes out of it, Allen said.
“Washington wants to learn … so they can shape their policy too,” he said.
Wisk, Boeing’s subsidiary, will test its autonomous eVTOL aircraft in Texas, part of a project led by the Texas Department of Transportation. Dan Dalton, Wisk's vice president of commercialization and airline development, wasn't specific about how and where the company would operate its aircraft, but said the program will allow it to collect data it will need for the FAA's certification process.
"Where that might have been something we did in a few years, this allows us to pull that shelf, and a whole bunch of activity, … to this year and next year, Dalton said.
In December, Wisk celebrated the first flight of its sixth-generation autonomous eVTOL, marking a step toward its goal to certify the plane by the end of the decade.
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