How Much Will It Cost to Fly on eVTOL Air Taxis?

Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft are years away from entering service, but the discussion is already under way about passenger prices.

Thom Patterson

Friday, October 22, 2021 at 12:32 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Projected eVTOL air taxi fares, ranging from $2.25 to $11 per mile, are widely considered optimistic by experts, with actual costs likely to be higher.
Key factors influencing passenger prices include the need for comprehensive "end-to-end" pricing (integrating ground transport to vertiports), challenges in achieving high aircraft utilization with an on-demand rideshare model, and the cost of training pilots for new technology.
Real-world comparisons to helicopter services and expert cost analyses suggest eVTOL rides will initially be comparable to premium black car services, appealing to high-end travelers rather than everyday commuters.
Despite significant investment and progress toward FAA certification, many experts predict a high rate of company failures, with the eventual impact more likely to be a disruption to the civil rotorcraft industry rather than widespread, affordable urban air transportation.

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Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis are years from being commercially available, but that’s not keeping people from asking: How much will passengers be asked to pay to fly on these new aircraft?

Altogether, investors have been betting billions of dollars on eVTOL companies like Joby Aviation, Lilium, Volocopter and others that are promising to build an entirely new form of convenient, safe, and environmentally friendly urban transportation.