Archer and Falcon Aviation to develop vertiport network in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for launch of eVTOL operations in 2025

Archer has select­ed Fal­con Avi­a­tion, a promi­nent Avi­a­tion Ser­vices Oper­a­tor in the UAE, as its ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture part­ner for crit­i­cal loca­tions in its planned eVTOL oper­a­tions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Under this part­ner­ship, both com­pa­nies will start by devel­op­ing state-of-the-art ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture at Fal­con Heli­port at Atlantis, the Palm in Dubai and the Mari­na Mall heli­port in Abu Dhabi’s Cor­niche. Dri­ving between the two cities dur­ing peak traf­fic can take more than two hours.

This col­lab­o­ra­tion marks a sig­nif­i­cant step towards launch­ing Archer’s four-pas­sen­ger Mid­night eVTOL air­craft with Fal­con Avi­a­tion in the UAE and across the MENA region as ear­ly as 2025.  

Archer founder and CEO, Adam Gold­stein, said: “Part­ner­ing with estab­lished oper­a­tors such as Fal­con Avi­a­tion, as well as the cap­i­tal of the Emi­rates with the Abu Dhabi Invest­ment Office, has been key to quick­ly build­ing our pres­ence in the region. We look for­ward to paving the way for the intro­duc­tion of our Mid­night air­craft to the region which will set the stage for the UAE to become a glob­al leader in urban air mobil­i­ty.”

Archer and Fal­con Avi­a­tion plan to offer pas­sen­ger ser­vice in Archer’s Mid­night air­craft between these two Fal­con ver­ti­ports, which will oper­ate almost entire­ly over water with scenic views of both cities and clock in at as lit­tle as 30 min­utes from take­off to land­ing. Archer believes it is the first com­pa­ny to announce an eVTOL air taxi ser­vice on this route between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, one of the world’s most promi­nent and con­gest­ed com­mute cor­ri­dors.

This lat­est announce­ment rein­forces a mem­o­ran­dum of under­stand­ing (MOU) signed last year, where Fal­con Avi­a­tion agreed to oper­ate scores of Archer’s Mid­night air­craft. This ven­ture is part of Archer’s strate­gic expan­sion, with the UAE set to be its first inter­na­tion­al launch mar­ket as soon as next year.

This fol­lows a sig­nif­i­cant pre­lim­i­nary deal announced by Archer last year with the Abu Dhabi Invest­ment Office which promised eco­nom­ic incen­tives to help accel­er­ate Archer’s growth in the region as part of Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehi­cle Indus­try (SAVI) Clus­ter.

Fal­con Avi­a­tion CEO, Cap­tain Raman­deep Oberoi, said: “For near­ly two decades, Fal­con Avi­a­tion has been at the fore­front of heli­copter pas­sen­ger trans­port in the UAE. Our part­ner­ship with Archer is a leap into the future, as we pre­pare to offer fly­ing car ser­vices togeth­er in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, con­tin­u­ing our tra­di­tion of world-class trans­porta­tion solu­tions.”

On March 8th, Fal­con Avi­a­tion also announced the inau­gu­ra­tion of its state-of-the-art Ren­o­vat­ed Heli­port Ter­mi­nal, extend­ing its pres­ence at Atlantis, the Palm. The com­pa­nies unveiled a vision of what the future ver­ti­port and ser­vice will look like at what will trans­form into a key hub for Mid­night flights, help­ing bring urban air mobil­i­ty to the region.

Archer Chief Com­mer­cial Offi­cer, Nikhil Goel, added: “We have made rapid progress in the UAE over the past three months since announc­ing Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be home to our first inter­na­tion­al Mid­night flights as soon as 2025. We’re proud to be the first to announce plans to oper­ate between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, along with ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture at both ends of the com­muter jour­ney.”

Archer’s goal is to trans­form urban trav­el, replac­ing 60–90-minute com­mutes by car with esti­mat­ed 10–30 minute elec­tric air taxi flights that are safe, sus­tain­able, low noise, and cost-com­pet­i­tive with ground trans­porta­tion.