Archer Unveils Planned Air Taxi Networks at GA Facilities in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin
Why It MattersSiting eVTOL networks at existing FBO and general aviation facilities ties early advanced air mobility service to established business aviation ground infrastructure and its operators in major Texas metros.
Archer Aviation, which is pursuing FAA certification of its four-passenger Midnight eVTOL air taxi, on Friday shared maps of planned networks covering Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin. The networks include FBO locations and other general aviation facilities in the three cities. Archer plans to bring Midnight to Texas for demonstration flights ahead of expanded VTOL testing and certification, using conventional runway takeoffs, since the aircraft is designed to take off both vertically and from a runway. Vertiports will be used for eventual operations.
In Dallas-Fort Worth, the network includes Atlantic's location at Addison Airport (KADS) and would connect to the 242-acre Frisco Station business hub, which includes the headquarters of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. Archer is partnering with real estate developer Hillwood, part of the joint venture that owns Frisco Station. In Houston, Archer plans to operate from Signature's terminals at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (KIAH) and William P. Hobby Airport, with links to the Thompson Hotel Helipad in downtown Houston and the Island Jet Center in Galveston.
Midnight is intended to provide quiet, zero-emission flights of 10-20 minutes, with a maximum range of 100 miles and speeds up to 150 mph. It has 12 propellers, six dedicated to vertical takeoff and landing and six tilt propellers for the transition to wingborne flight. It will be piloted at launch, with Archer working toward uncrewed operations; it recently acquired autonomous eVTOL developer Wisk Aero from Boeing and is developing Zee, an AI foundation model for copilot assistance and ATC communications.
Texas is the fifth market for which Archer has published network maps, after the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, South Florida and Los Angeles. Archer is partnering with Signature, Atlantic, Modern Aviation, Clay Lacy Aviation and Skyports, among others, and the networks will use chargers purchased from Beta Technologies, with a joint plan to install 250 systems across Texas, New York, California and Florida.
Archer has yet to demonstrate a crewed transition from vertical to wingborne flight, which it said in March was on track for later this year. Archer no longer gives a firm certification timeline, but with plans to fly at the Los Angeles Olympic Games it will likely seek to finish certification by 2028.
