Joby Aviation has completed the first point-to-point eVTOL air taxi demonstration flights in New York City, linking John F. Kennedy International Airport to Manhattan heliports as part of a week-long flight trial campaign across the city’s existing heliport network.
Aircraft N545JX departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and flew to Downtown Skyport and the West 30th Street and East 34th Street Heliports in Midtown on Monday April 27.
Joby envisions these routes for a commercial eVTOL service across the New York metropolitan area. The JFK-to-Manhattan journey was completed in under 10 minutes.
The campaign was made possible through New York’s selection under the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) launched in March 2026. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the lead eIPP partner and the agency responsible for the region’s airports, bridges, tunnels and seaport, worked with Joby and the FAA to integrate eVTOL operations at one of the nation’s busiest airports.
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, said, “We first flew here in 2023, and now we’re showing what the next chapter looks like: a quiet, zero operating emissions air taxi service designed to better serve New Yorkers.
Joby was named a partner on five of the selected eIPP projects, spanning 12 states. The New York flights demonstrate the program’s goals by integrating quiet, emission-free air taxi operations into FAA-controlled airspace at one of the country’s highest-traffic airports.
Joby’s commercial vision for New York centers on reducing a typical 60-to-120-minute drive to JFK to a seven-minute flight. Through partnerships with Delta Air Lines and Uber, the company plans to create an end-to-end experience connecting ground transportation and air travel in a single journey.
Joby’s acquired Blade Air Mobility’s passenger business in 2025. The subsidiary now provides the operational infrastructure and Manhattan heliport presence to support commercial service at scale. Blade served more than 90,000 passengers in 2025.
Joby’s aircraft has a lower noise footprint than similarly sized conventional aircraft or helicopters, with an acoustic signature intended to blend into ambient city sounds. New York City’s heliport infrastructure is also being electrified in anticipation of commercial eVTOL service, led by the NYC Economic Development Corporation in partnership with Skyports Infrastructure and Vertiports by Atlantic.
The flights are part of Joby’s 2026 Electric Skies Tour and follows an inaugural flight campaign in the San Francisco Bay Area. Joby continues to advance through the final stages of FAA certification, with the recent first flight of its conforming aircraft for type inspection authorization (TIA) paving the way for FAA pilots to conduct for-credit test flights.
