The FAA has issued a Part 135 air carrier and operator certificate to Archer Aviation, permitting the eVTOL manufacturer to begin on-demand commercial air taxi operations. While the company works to complete the type certification process for its Midnight eVTOL air taxi, it can use already-certified conventional airplanes to refine its systems and procedures.
An Archer spokesperson told AIN that the company will use a Beechcraft Bonanza A36—a six-seat piston airplane that it already owns—to begin flying planned eVTOL routes in the San Francisco Bay Area, near its headquarters in San Jose, California.
“Additionally, we will be using the various apps and platforms we're developing alongside the aircraft operation as part of the refinement process ahead of launching Midnight into service once it's received its type certification from the FAA,” the spokesperson said. “We will begin operations with the GA aircraft imminently as the certificate requires we fly commercially every month to keep our pilots and the cert current.”
The Part 135 certificate was issued to the company’s Archer Air subsidiary, through which Archer aims to operate its own aircraft in urban environments similar to a rideshare model for ground vehicles. Archer Aviation has two main business units: Archer Air and Archer Direct, the latter of which is an OEM selling the Midnight aircraft to other operators. Archer’s spokesperson said the company does not expect to generate any revenue through the Archer Air subsidiary until Midnight is certified and in service.
Archer Aviation is now the second eVTOL developer to obtain Part 135 certification. Joby Aviation received its Part 135 certificate in May 2022 and has been flying Cirrus SR22 “to exercise the operations and customer technology platforms that will underpin our multimodal ridesharing service, while also refining our procedures to ensure seamless journeys for our customers,” Joby’s president of operations Bonny Simi told AIN.
Both Archer and Joby also secured their Part 145 repair station certificates in February, allowing them to conduct maintenance, repair, and overhaul services on their own eVTOL air taxis as well as other conventional aircraft.
With its Part 135 and Part 145 certificates in hand, Archer said it “has now received the two key operational certificates required from the FAA for it to be in a position to begin its air taxi operations when Midnight receives its type certification,” which the company expects to achieve in 2025.
The five-stage Part 135 certification process involved extensive documentation of Archer’s operational manuals and procedures, and its pilots had to demonstrate proficiency with those manuals and procedures under FAA observation, according to Archer.