Joby Enters Final FAA Certification Stage as EHang Holds Trial Ops and Archer, BETA Advance in eVTOL Race
Why It MattersThe first passenger eVTOL services will arrive through different regulatory routes, from pilot programs to national type certificates, so no single certification milestone will mark the start of the market.
Four companies — Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, EHang and BETA Technologies — are the closest to commercial passenger eVTOL service, each on a different certification path.
Joby's S4 is the only U.S. applicant in Stage 5, the final stage of FAA type certification. In Joby's Q2 2026 shareholder letter, as of July 31, 2026, Stage 4 (Testing & Analysis) was 100% complete and 100% FAA-accepted, while Stage 5 (Show & Verify) was 20% complete on Joby's side and 10% accepted by the FAA. No Type Certificate has been issued. Joby set September 2026 as the start of its first flights under the FAA's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) in Texas and continues to target first passengers in 2026, which would be operations under the pilot program rather than type certification.
Archer's Midnight, a piloted 12-rotor aircraft carrying a pilot plus four passengers, with a 150 mph top speed and 100-mile range, completed Phase 3 of Archer's own four-phase FAA pathway in May 2026, with Phase 4 in progress. Archer is the named official air taxi provider for the LA28 Summer Olympics, and on August 24, 2026 it and AEG announced downtown Los Angeles' first vertiport at L.A. LIVE. Boeing's acquisition of Wisk, SkyGrid and Insitu cleared its Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period on September 18, 2026, with closing targeted by the end of 2026.
EHang's EH216-S, a two-passenger pilotless eVTOL, received a CAAC type certificate in October 2023, the first eVTOL to earn national-authority type certification. It flies paid routine trial operations in Guangzhou and Hefei, described in its August 25, 2026 Q2 results as safe and stable for 17 months, while passenger commercial service approvals in China remain pending. EHang withdrew its full-year 2026 revenue guidance, previously RMB600M, citing uncertainty over approval timing.
BETA Technologies is pursuing a two-step FAA path: the fixed-wing ALIA CX300 is to be certified under Part 23 first, targeting late 2026 to early 2027, and the ALIA VTOL under powered-lift rules afterward, targeting late 2027 to early 2028. As of its August 12, 2026 Q2 report, the CX300's requirements-definition phase was complete and the company was preparing for Type Inspection Authorization flight testing. BETA was selected for seven of the eight eIPP projects announced March 9, 2026, began carrying organs for United Therapeutics on July 12, 2026, and operates 138 charging sites.
