Electricity Is In the Air (Or Soon Will Be) At Downtown Aerodrome
A rivalry is emerging over competing visions for the future of the Downtown Skyport, as the East River helicopter landing facility on South Street has been known since last April. Three contenders plan to begin flying near-silent, zero-emission electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in and out of Lower Manhattan in the near future.
One aspirant, Vertical Aerospace, announced plans in January to begin flights of its Valo prototype between the East River and multiple local airports (Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark, and Teterboro) in 2028. The Valo, with eight rotors, can carry four passengers up to 100 miles, at speeds of 150 miles per hour. Stuart Simpson, chief executive officer of Vertical Aerospace, said, “New York is a natural next step to explore how electric aviation could support urban and regional travel in the United States, working… to keep safety, certification and real-world operations at the core.”
A second competitor, Archer Aviation, which has partnered with United Airlines, is similarly planning routes connecting all major New York airports to Lower Manhattan with its Midnight aircraft. That 12-rotor model has the same range and passenger capacity as the Valo, but a top speed of 125 miles per hour. Archer chief executive Adam Goldstein said, “the New York region is home to three of the world’s preeminent airports, serving upwards of 150 million passengers annually. But the drive from Manhattan to any of these airports can be painful, taking one, sometimes two hours. We want to change that by giving residents and visitors the option to complete trips in mere minutes. With its existing helicopter infrastructure, regulatory support and strong demand, I believe New York could be one of the first markets for air taxis in the United States.” Archer originally hoped to launch its Lower Manhattan service in 2025, and has not yet announced a new target date.
A third hopeful, Joby Aviation, which is allied with Delta Airlines, plans to take passengers from Manhattan to LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports. Its six-rotor S4 model has the same range and passenger load as the first two, but can travel at 200 miles per hour. Joby initially planned to begin flying out of the Downtown Skyport in 2025, but is now silent on when its service will begin.
A fourth rival that hoped to inaugurate eVTOL service at the Downtown Skyport, Voloctoper, went bankrupt in November. Unlike Vertical, Archer, and Joby, Voloctoper’s prototype, Volocity, was designed to fly without a pilot.
The designs of all three of eVTOL firms that remain in contention rely on the lifting capacity of upward-facing propellers, similar to a traditional helicopter, but then tilt these props forward during flight, to power horizontal movement, while fixed wings (similar to those of an airplane) maintain altitude. And none of these models burns any hydrocarbons, relying instead on massive battery packs, surrounded by cooling systems. This offers the environmental benefit of zero carbon emissions, but entails a significant tradeoff in weight and bulk.
One source of the delay in implementing plans for eVTOL service at Downtown Skyport (or anywhere else, for that matter) is that none of these aircraft designs has yet received federal approval to carry passengers, or operate in populated areas. Even if a regulatory green light is forthcoming, however, the business model of flying small groups of passengers short distances for high fares remains unproven. But the lure of traveling to local airports in minutes, instead of spending hours languishing in traffic, may yet prove potent for at least some affluent customers.
Other hurdles remain. Charging eVTOL aircraft quickly enough to make the business model viable requires what are known as Level 3 electrical connections, each powerful enough to supply current to more than 250 homes simultaneously. The 12-helicopter capacity of the heavily trafficked Downtown Skyport will require at least half a dozen of these, with additional current needed for a planned cargo-transfer facility (part of the Blue Highways program) that is slated to move freight from electric ferries to electric vehicles for local delivery. The buildout of this power infrastructure is now scheduled for completion later this year.
In a resolution enacted in December 2024, Community Board 1 noted that eVTOL aircraft “are about 20 times quieter than helicopters… and have zero emission in flight, which will address two of CB1’s long standing complaints about helicopters.”