Delta Invests In Joby Aviation, Electric Air Taxis

As with all of these investments, they are simply marketing. Delta will get more than $60 million worth of free press and good will ("Delta cares about the environment!") while realizing that getting an actual return on that investment is unlikely. The idea that these aircraft are buzzing around NYC in 18-24 months is hilarious. The odds of that are next to zero.

How does this actually work? I live in Manhattan, fly into LGA and JFK, mostly LGA. So in the crazy crowded skies over NYC, and on the crazy crowded and space-constrained LGA property, there are going to be hundreds of Jobys waiting to take off from somewhere? Which terminal? How do I get there? Can I use it with checked baggage? Where does it land, on the roof of my apartment building? How many flights per day does DL have at LGA? Times 100 people. Who's hiring hundreds more ATC people to manage these planes?

The Port Authority can barely manage the yellow taxi line and a place for Ubers - so now they're gonna do this also?

I get the marketing benefits. I just don't see it ever happening at scale.

It's just another fantasy cash grab to separate fools and their money. Anyone with critical thinking can see this is not the paradigm shift that revolutionary innovation requires. It's just an incremental adjustment of an unworkable angle. Same with SST, same with Hyperloop. But hey, common sense is so 20th century.

I’m waiting for a Jetson car shuttle, where I get encased in my own clear bubble and dropped directly at my terminal/home.

I get LA & NYC are congested and have wealthy travelers, but they also have really crowded airspace. Why not launch in places where airports are further from the "main attractions" and the airspace isn't over-crowded. Thinking seasonal routes like - SLC to Deer Valley, BOS to Martha's Vineyard, DEN to Vail/Breckenridge, etc. I guess I don't know how far they can travel, what kind of load they can carry, and what kind of weather they'll be able to handle.

There's nothing any more or less environmentally friendly or harmful with electric air taxis than there is with electric cars. Electricity has to be generated someplace and someone(s) think having a power plant a little further from a city is better than polluting cars in the city.

the FAA is working on the entire ATC issue. Airspace around airports is generally divided up in areas that line with runways. just as with helicopters today, there will be areas where air taxis can approach airports but, yes, it will likely involve air traffic controllers.

Air tax companies inclulding Joby are working on a network of landing zones in NYC and the LA area, typically on parking garages that have recharging areas for their planes.

First and business class cabins are outside of the reach of most people but it doesn't stop airlines from offering them or consumers from buying them. not even WN has a truly equal product for everyone since you can buy your way to the front of their cattle car boarding process if you so choose.

It is more telling that DL passed on zoom - which is now dead - but decided urban air mobility has potential. And they could have an advantage if Joby launches first, which is likely.

Zoom is nonsense, but so is EVTOL. Be assured, Delta’s win here is a press release showing them to join this particular bandwagon (after AA, UA, and of course—JetBlue—which has the distinction of investing in Joby before it SPAC’d itself.) Unfortunately, it does seem Delta is putting some money in. Foolish IMHO compared to their competitors.

The chance that Joby will certify and launch in 2024 is near 0. The chance that there will one day—in the next decade—be thousands (or even hundreds) of these things flying over NY and LA is near absolute 0.

Even if Joby does launch sometime in the next 8 years, DL will find—like “air taxi” ventures before—that demand for air travel to the airport far outstrips demand for air travel from the airport.

I doubt they will realize anywhere near that level of intangible benefit, but having no accountability for wasting money is the point and that is the era of corporate mismanagement we are living in. Remember the money flushed on this BS the next time there is a strike, labor action, or your flight is delayed for six hours because it is one flight attendant short.