Unsurprisingly, given its fixation on novelty and one-upmanship, Dubai was among the first places on the planet to claim to be an early adopter of eVTOL aircraft. Multiple pioneers of so-called advanced air mobility (AAM) have flocked to its streets paved with gold seeking a piece of the action there and in neighboring Gulf States.
So, picture the consternation among rival eVTOL aircraft developers who woke up to the news on February 12 that the Dubai government had granted Joby Aviation exclusive access to the local market for air taxi services. Local officials and Joby confirmed that the move expressly excludes other manufacturers from the market for six years. Can you imagine the outcry if airports, FBOs, or entire cities announced they would allow access only to leading private flight providers like NetJets and VistaJet?
Joby has partnered with infrastructure group Skyports for the construction and operation of a network of vertiports that will start with the following four locations in 2026: Dubai International Airport, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, and Dubai Downtown. In Joby’s four-passenger eVTOL aircraft, which it says will complete FAA type certification this year, a flight from the airport to the fancy Palm Jumeirah resort will take 10 minutes, compared with a drive of at least 45 minutes.
Did someone say "monopoly"? Well if they did then Joby’s direct rival, Archer Aviation, wasn’t listening because this week chief commercial officer Nikhil Goel and founder and CEO Adam Goldstein were back in the UAE for talks with the local General Civil Aviation Authority. Goel, who was previously involved in the development of the Uber Elevate eVTOL flight booking platform subsequently bought by Joby, told his LinkedIn followers that Archer still plans to “launch flying cars across Dubai and Abu Dhabi as soon as next year.”
Where does this leave all the AAM start-ups feverishly touring the world forging alliances to build so-called ecosystems for the new mode of public transportation? From Los Angeles to Tokyo, with stops in Texas, Florida, New York, Paris, China's Shenzhen, and Singapore (among other places), plans are being laid for vertiports with a mix of on-demand and scheduled gridlock-busting short hops of up to around 120 or so miles.
Among many outstanding questions is whether local officials will feel willing and/or able to allow free competitive access to provide eVTOL services in their jurisdictions. Or will it be a case of winner-takes-all, which is what Joby seems convinced it has achieved in Dubai?
Most would-be developers of vertiports and recharging equipment for the new electric air taxis profess to be taking an open-architecture approach that anticipates these being shared by multiple service providers and aircraft models. But the devil could well lie in the details agreed to with local regulators and city governments.
More fundamentally, it seems doubtful that AAM pioneers have done any focused research and customer engagement to ascertain whether local people want these services and will be willing and able to use them. When I tell "civilians" what area of aviation I write about, I invariably draw blank looks or, worse still, people move away from me gingerly as if I’ve just announced I’m with some kind of fringe religious cult inviting them to join me to dance naked around an icon.
Nonetheless, you read it here first: eVTOL aircraft will become a significant and transformative facet of public transportation—only perhaps not as quickly and universally as some would like. Lots of the start-ups fighting for survival in the AAM gold rush feel compelled to convince investors that eye-watering commercial returns and a market are just around the corner. High on their own hubris, not many of these companies want to hear that this race will be a marathon, not a sprint.
Anyhow, sign me up for one of the first eVTOL rides above Dubai’s bling-dusted cityscape next time I’m there for the air show. I’m not fussy about which electric rickshaw I hitch a lift with.