Archer to work with Southwest Airlines and develop electric air taxi networks at California airports

South­west Air­lines and Archer have signed a mem­o­ran­dum of under­stand­ing to devel­op oper­a­tional plans for elec­tric air taxi net­works uti­liz­ing Archer’s eVTOL air­craft at Cal­i­for­nia air­ports where South­west oper­ates.

Both com­pa­nies intend to col­lab­o­rate on a Con­cept of Oper­a­tions that lays the foun­da­tion for inte­grat­ed elec­tric air taxi net­works, which would sup­port Cal­i­for­nia air­ports and the sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties that South­west serves.

South­west is the Gold­en State’s largest air car­ri­er and oper­ates at 14 air­ports across the state.

Paul Cullen, Vice Pres­i­dent Real Estate at South­west Air­lines, said: “South­west is eager to explore the con­ve­nience Archer’s air taxis could pro­vide cus­tomers fly­ing South­west at air­ports in busy urban areas.

“We’ve proud­ly served as California’s largest car­ri­er for near­ly 25 years, and inte­grat­ing Archer’s elec­tric air­craft into the trav­el jour­ney poten­tial­ly gives us an inno­v­a­tive oppor­tu­ni­ty to enhance the expe­ri­ence of fly­ing South­west. We look for­ward to col­lab­o­rat­ing with Archer as we assess future com­mer­cial activ­i­ties in Cal­i­for­nia and oth­er South­west loca­tions.” 

This col­lab­o­ra­tion will include part­ner­ing with South­west employ­ees and respec­tive unions, includ­ing South­west Air­lines Pilots Asso­ci­a­tion (SWAPA), to main­tain and improve effi­cient oper­a­tions. This is a key step toward poten­tial­ly offer­ing South­west cus­tomers an air­port trans­port ser­vice that saves time by stream­lin­ing the door-to-door pas­sen­ger jour­ney.

Nikhil Goel, Chief Com­mer­cial Offi­cer at Archer, said: “With Archer’s Mid­night air­craft, pas­sen­gers will be able to fly above traf­fic to get to the air­port faster. By putting togeth­er Southwest’s impres­sive net­work of air­ports in Cal­i­for­nia and their fre­quent intrastate flights with our planned net­work, South­west cus­tomers could some­day com­plete door-to-door trips like San­ta Mon­i­ca to Napa in less than three hours.”

Archer and South­west plan to col­lab­o­rate over the next few years as eVTOL air­craft take flight. Com­bin­ing Archer’s air­craft and planned urban air mobil­i­ty net­work with South­west flights could offer an enhanced expe­ri­ence for the first and last miles of the cus­tomer trav­el jour­ney. 

Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advi­sor to Gov­er­nor Gavin New­som and Direc­tor of the Governor’s Office of Busi­ness and Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment, added: “Archer’s col­lab­o­ra­tion with South­west to intro­duce air taxis in Cal­i­for­nia show­cas­es our state’s ded­i­ca­tion to cli­mate inno­va­tion and advanced tech­nol­o­gy.

“This ini­tia­tive is designed to help rev­o­lu­tion­ize clean trans­porta­tion with zero-direct emis­sion and afford­able options, enhanc­ing the pas­sen­ger expe­ri­ence, and sup­port­ing Cal­i­for­ni­a’s cli­mate action goals.”