Reuters: Saudi Arabia is distancing Archer Aviation today after electric air taxi company announces it will partner with the Kingdom’s economic and regional competitor, the UAE. The lure to be the chosen country for foreign investors in the region makes the countries spend more and that is good for companies such as Archer which are just establishing in the field.
Last month, Archer invested in a deal with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) that would see the multiillion-dollar that Archer intends to launch the planned commercial air taxi services within the UAE. “Since we had made our first few announcements out here in the UAE, that has created interest around the region and in Saudi Arabia specifically,” added Nikhil Goel, Chief Commercial Officer for Archer.
Goel cited this as saying Archer is currently negotiating with Saudi Arabia to enter into some sort of partnership in Riyadh, Jeddah, and some of the Kingdom’s mega projects worth billions of US dollars. Archer is future mobility enterprise that is working for every day electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and top investors of Archer Aviation are Chrysler- parent Stellantis, Boeing, and United Airlines. These are regaled as the flying taxis, an emblem of the future of urban air travel.
Again, the deep purse of the oil-rich region makes it apt for the industry, but there is a crucial challenge of certifications to boost the eVTOL industry in the future. According to Riyadh’s vision to ward off reliance on oil, billions are being put to invest in the aviation business to become a hub in the region. The kingdom revealed an intention to buy 105 narrow-body aircrafts from Airbus on Tuesday, founded the new carrier Riyadh Air past year and declared the Largest Civilian Airport of six runways in 2022.
Long-term aviation hub has also stepped up, including big increases and plan to expand the Dubai International Airport passenger traffic to 120 million per a year by the 2026 from a hundred million. This competition is making the industry glow in an aviation boom that Goel considers factual to the new entrant like Archer.
