On Monday, April 27, a Joby Aviation S4 eVTOL air taxi — tail number N545JX — lifted off from John F. Kennedy International Airport and landed at the West 30th Street Heliport in Manhattan roughly 15 minutes later, completing the first point-to-point eVTOL flight in New York City history. The aircraft then continued south to Downtown Skyport in Lower Manhattan before turning back to JFK, covering a route that typically takes 60 to 120 minutes by car in under 10 minutes of flight time.
That flight kicked off what Joby is calling a week-long public campaign — 10 days, more precisely — across New York’s existing heliport network. The company is operating at West 30th Street, East 34th Street, and Downtown Skyport at Wall Street. Infrastructure partners Downtown Skyport and Atlantic Aviation have already upgraded all three city-owned heliports with eVTOL charging hardware and Blue Highways maritime delivery infrastructure, a retrofit-first approach that sidesteps the multi-year timelines involved in building greenfield vertiports from the ground up.
The Aircraft — and What It Can Do
N545JX is no stranger to spectacle. It’s the same preproduction prototype Joby flew over the Golden Gate Bridge during the Bay Area leg of its 2026 Electric Skies Tour, a national showcase timed to the United States’ 250th anniversary. The S4 seats one pilot and four passengers, cruises at 200 mph, and carries a range of approximately 150 miles. Six rotors tilt between vertical and forward-flight configurations. Takeoff noise clocks in at 65 dBA — roughly equivalent to a two-person conversation, and well below any conventional helicopter flying the same routes today.
Meanwhile, Joby’s first FAA-conforming aircraft, N547JX, is on a separate track entirely. It’s been flying a certification program at the company’s Marina, California test facility, where it recently achieved Type Inspection Authorization — the milestone that unlocks for-credit FAA pilot testing. Joby reported approximately 80% completion of Stage 4 internal testing in its Q4 2025 earnings, the highest figure disclosed by any U.S. passenger eVTOL developer. One certification stage remains before the FAA issues a full type certificate; an air carrier certificate is also required before revenue flights can begin.
What Officials Said
“New York has always been a city that defines the future by demanding better. 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. This 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.”
— JoeBen Bevirt, Founder & CEO, Joby Aviation
“These historic Joby flights, linking our city-owned heliport to our airports, are proof that the future of advanced air mobility is no longer a Jetsons-esque fantasy — it’s already here. . . . upgrading the city-owned heliports to support eVTOL charging infrastructure and Blue Highways maritime delivery.”
— Jeanny Pak, Interim President & CEO, NYC Economic Development Corporation
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Kathryn Garcia added that the agency is now actively seeking partners to design, build, and operate a vertiport at LaGuardia Airport — a significant signal that the region’s primary airport operator is treating eVTOL infrastructure as a near-term capital planning priority, not a speculative one.
The Regulatory and Competitive Picture
Monday’s flights operated under the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program — the eIPP, established by executive order in June 2025. The program allows pre-certified aircraft to demonstrate operations in commercial airspace, including the demanding Class B environment over New York, under Other Transaction Authority agreements with the FAA. The Port Authority is the lead applicant on the New York eIPP project, one of five applications Joby is partnered on across 12 states, from a total of eight winning projects covering 26 states announced by the DOT and FAA on March 9.
Joby won’t have New York to itself for long. The Port Authority also holds eVTOL demonstration agreements with Archer Aviation, Beta Technologies, Boeing’s Wisk Aero, and Electra — with Archer flights expected this spring. Still, Joby’s lead is real. Its 2025 acquisition of Blade Air Mobility’s passenger business — which served more than 90,000 passengers last year — gave it an existing customer base, ticketing infrastructure, and heliport relationships that no U.S. competitor can currently match.
Joby Chief Product Officer Eric Allison said the company is targeting passenger flights as soon as the second half of 2026. Joby stock climbed approximately 3% on Monday following the announcement.
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