Joby Aviation announces launch of Uber Air in Dubai
Joby Aviation (JOBY) announced on Wednesday that it will be launching Uber Air in Dubai, allowing passengers to book an all-electric air taxi through the Uber app.
Joby expects to carry its first passengers using the Uber app later this year in Dubai. The company had said last year that it was on pace to begin offering commercial flights on its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in Dubai at some point in 2026.
Riders will be able to enter their destination on the Uber app and if their trip qualifies, "Uber Air powered by Joby" will appear as an option. The entire journey can be booked through the app, including pickup and drop-off with an Uber car.
Joby's VTOLs are designed to hold up to four passengers. The aircraft can travel at speeds up to 200 mph and has a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge.
“We set out to build a new layer of urban transportation,” Eric Allison, chief product officer at Joby, said in a statement. “Our focus has always been on creating a flight experience that operates quietly and integrates naturally into the rhythm of city life.
“By partnering with Uber, we’re making this new mode of transportation familiar and accessible, connecting the ground and the sky through a system designed to save people time and fit seamlessly into how they already move.”
Joby and Uber have been partnering on urban air mobility efforts since 2019, and the former acquired the latter’s Elevate division in 2021.
“We’ve long believed in the power of advanced air mobility to transform how people move through cities,” Sachin Kansal, chief product officer at Uber. “With Uber Air, riders will be able to book Joby’s electric air taxi through a simple and familiar, one-tap experience on Uber, seamlessly connecting every leg of their journey – making ground-to-sky travel even more effortless.”
Joby signed an agreement with Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) in 2024 that gives it exclusive rights to operate air taxis in Dubai for six years.
The company in November announced three planned vertiports that will be added to Dubai's electric air taxi network, providing "connections to some of Dubai's most high-profile destinations" with high traffic.
Vertiports are the hubs for the VTOL aircrafts that Joby is building. The three sites for its vertiports include the American University of Dubai, Atlantis the Royal and the Dubai Mall.
Uber announced last year that it plans to bring air mobility service provided by Joby subsidiary Blade Air Mobility to its app as soon as this year.
Blade, which was acquired by Joby in August, is an urban air mobility passenger business in the U.S. and Southern Europe that caters to customers in the richest 1%. Although Joby’s eVOTL fleet is still in development, Blade operates a helicopter-based air taxi service, allowing Uber to add it to its app now.
Blade will allow Joby to expand its service with Uber in other locations this year where its VOTL aircraft is not yet operating, including New York, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom and Japan.
The company has noted that it will gradually transition Blade’s “large, loyal base of passengers from conventional helicopters to next-generation Joby aircraft,” which the company expects will reduce infrastructure spending and lower customer acquisition costs.
Joby has completed more than 50,000 miles of flight tests across its fleet and has begun the final stage of the certification process for its VOTL with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States, the company said.
Shares of JOBY were up slightly over 1% on Wednesday.