Touch-down locations for the aircraft — tail number N545JX — included the Downtown Skyport in Lower Manhattan and two Midtown destinations: the West 30th Street and East 34th Street heliports, according to the company. A ground trip between those Manhattan neighborhoods and JFK can consume anywhere from one to two hours; Joby says the same journey by air would take less than 10 minutes.

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The flights are part of the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), established by executive order, which the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in March. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the lead partner on one of the selected projects, worked with the FAA and Joby to make the flights possible, the company said.

Joby CEO JoeBen Bevirt said the company is targeting passenger flights in New York, Texas, and Florida as soon as the second half of 2026, according to Bloomberg. Joby still requires FAA certification before commercial operations can begin and has pushed back previous goals in the past, Bloomberg noted.

Seating up to four passengers plus a pilot, the vehicle lifts straight up from the ground and then redirects its thrust horizontally for forward travel via propellers that rotate in flight, CNN reported. Joby says the aircraft produces zero operating emissions and is designed to be quieter than conventional helicopters.

Eric Allison, Joby's chief product officer, said the aircraft's noise profile was central to its commercial pitch. "There are places where people don't want helicopters to land," Allison told Yahoo Finance. "With this type of technology, the convenience of vertical flight — being able to book a trip through the Uber $UBER app and fly at 200 miles an hour to the airport — you want that closer to you, and that's critically important for this business."

The 2025 purchase of Blade Air Mobility's passenger division gave Joby a foothold in Manhattan's heliport network along with Blade's established customer base. Blade served more than 90,000 passengers in 2025 and now operates as a wholly owned Joby subsidiary, the company said. Joby also holds partnerships with Delta Air Lines and Uber.

The New York flights are part of Joby's 2026 Electric Skies Tour, a national showcase that previously included a flight over the Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area. The NYC campaign is expected to run for 10 days across the city's heliport network, the company said.

Joby stock rose about 3% on the day of the announcement.

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