Downtown Skyport welcomes multiple point-to-point eVTOL flights

Above: Skyport hosted five landings of Joby’s aircraft, providing a core operations-ready vertiport node in Manhattan.
Courtesy Skyport

Over the course of the week-long flight programme, Downtown Skyport received five flights, also acting as the key location where Joby managed aircraft operations and charging in Manhattan. Downtown Skyport played a central role within the flight campaign as it is the only commercial vertical aviation facility in Manhattan that can currently handle eVTOL charging.

During the flight campaign Joby flew routes between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Downtown Skyport and the West 30th Street and East 34th Street Heliports. Together, these sites trace some of the commercial routes Joby envisions for New York, connecting Lower Manhattan and Midtown to JFK in under 10 minutes.

Tuesday 28th April also marked a key date with Joby hosting an event at Downtown Skyport that brought together government and local stakeholders to witness flight demonstrations. Following a point-to-point flight from JFK to Downtown Skyport, Joby demonstrated the aircraft’s capability for vertical take-off and landing, alongside its quiet noise profile.

The landings at Downtown Skyport are a key momentum milestone as Skyports looks to transition the facility to become a hybrid vertical aviation facility for both eVTOLs and helicopters. Upon taking the concession to operate Downtown Skyport from New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), a core contractual commitment was to make the facility Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) ready. By taking multiple landings over the week, and facilitating eVTOL charging, Skyports was able to demonstrate Downtown Skyport’s path to AAM operational readiness.

Downtown Skyport is already in advanced planning stages for fitting permanent rapid charging, which is tracking to be fully functional in 2027.

“These landings demonstrate how eVTOL flights can already be supported by the infrastructure at Downtown Skyport and be seamlessly integrated into our existing operations,” said Addison Ferrell, Director of Infrastructure, Skyports Infrastructure.  “With plans already well underway for fitting permanent rapid charging, we’re making strong progress in enabling the facility for permanent, commercial eVTOL operations, which will give New Yorkers access to a critical node in the NYC network.”

“New York has always been a city that defines the future by demanding better,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby. “We first flew here in 2023, and now we’ve shown what the next chapter looks like: a quiet, zero operating emissions air taxi service designed to better serve New Yorkers. Last week, flying between JFK and Manhattan, we showed what the White House-backed eIPP initiative makes possible and offered New York a look at what’s coming."