 |
| Photo Credit: AP. |
DALLAS (AP) — United Airlines thinks that in a few years, plenty of big-city customers will pay $100 or more for a one-way ride to the airport in a four-seat, electric-powered air taxi.
The
Chicago-based airline said Thursday that it invested $15 million in a startup
manufacturer, and signed a “conditional” agreement to buy 200 of the tiny aircraft
with options for 200 more.
United said
it expects to receive the first taxis — which will take off and land
vertically, like helicopters — from Eve Air Mobility as soon as 2026.
It’s hard to
judge United’s commitment to the deal, since it wouldn’t provide terms for the
order. A spokesman said the conditions are standard when buying an aircraft
that hasn’t been certified by regulators, and they cover “a number of United’s
business objectives.”
The stake in
Eve amounts to less than 5% of United’s second-quarter profit.
But the deal
fits United’s pattern of announcing interest in startups that are trying to
build and win regulatory approval for air taxis, like Archer, and supersonic
planes, like Boom.
Mike
Leskinen, president of United’s venture-funding arm, said the eVTOLs — electric
vertical takeoff and landing aircraft — will be ideally suited for
traffic-clogged cities where United flies, including New York, Chicago and San
Francisco. He said air taxis will be faster than driving to the airport and
produce fewer emissions, and trips will cost $100 to $150 each way.
“It will take time for consumers to adopt
this. People are going to have some hesitancy at first,” Leskinen said. “It
will feel a lot similar to a helicopter ride, it might be scary for some, but
this is going to change the way we work and live.”
The Eve
aircraft is envisioned to have a range of 40 to 60 miles (65 to 100
kilometers). Future designs might be slightly bigger than the currently planned
four-seater, but they would not replace any planes that United flies from one
airport to another, so they won’t reduce carbon emissions produced by the
airline’s regular fleet.
Eve Holding
Inc. is a publicly traded company formed this year by a combination of a
special purpose acquisition company called Zanite and a unit of Brazilian
aircraft manufacturer Embraer. It is based in Melbourne, Florida.