Archer Aviation Signs MoU with Southwest Airlines

On Friday, July 12, American aviation giant Southwest Airlines and start-up Archer Aviation announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding, which will allow Archer to tap Southwest’s customer data as it builds a network of “air taxis” across California. 

Archer Aviation manufactures electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts, which the company claims are a low-noise, cost-competitive alternative to the 60-to-90-minute commutes that burden rural and suburban drivers. As Archer noted in its press release, once its Midnight eVTOL aircrafts are produced and cleared for commercial usage, the fleet could transform those lengthy car commutes into eVTOL flights of just 10 or 20 minutes. Furthermore, since Archer’s aircraft are electric, the company touts that these taxi-like flights will operate without generating any direct emissions. The company is working toward a commercial launch in 2025.

In partnering with Southwest Airlines, California’s largest carrier, Archer gains access to vast and valuable data about the airline’s customers, which will inform the start-up’s own integration into the commercial aviation market. Since one of Archer’s key use cases is transporting passengers to and from major airports (often a long and costly journey itself), the companies are collaborating on a tack-on option, which would enable customers to book transport with Archer to and from the airport at the same time they purchase their principal Southwest ticket. In learning where such customers are located, Archer will gain insight into where to build its own vertiports – essentially, cab stands for airplanes.

Archer has a similar partnership with United Airlines, another major national carrier, which the start-up has said it will leverage to launch operations in Miami and San Francisco next year. It is also in talks with the Transport Security Administration (TSA) to incorporate security checks directly at its vertiports. That way, in the words of Archer’s chief commercial officer, “if you’re going to SFO, you could land behind security right at Terminal 2 and go directly onto your Southwest flight instead of having to […] sit through TSA.”

Beyond the United States, Archer recently announced a deal with Kakao Mobility, a ride-hailing company based in South Korea, to bring electric air taxi flights to the country in 2026. The start-up has also stated that it hopes to launch in Abu Dhabi and India that same year.