Joby Aviation Leads Archer in FAA Certification Race

SkyDrive Inc. has appointed former Toyota executive Taiji Ono as executive vice president and head of global business, and former Airbus executive Gonzalo Ramos as global commercial officer. Ono, who spent nearly 17 years at Toyota Motor Corporation before serving as chief strategy officer at a data platform company, will oversee global business strategy, commercial models and sales strategy, including public-private partnerships in Japan. Ramos, who brings over 22 years of experience in commercial aviation, aircraft leasing and Advanced Air Mobility, including almost 18 years at Airbus, will lead commercial expansion in the United States, Middle East, Europe and Australia, driving aircraft sales contracts and post-delivery maintenance, repair and overhaul support. SkyDrive says it has partnered with airlines, operators, local governments and business partners across 10 countries, and that pre-orders and letters of intent for its SKYDRIVE SD-05 model total 451 aircraft. The company is pursuing type certification with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, with the aim of launching the aircraft into service in 2028.

Joby Aviation reported that its autonomy-equipped converted Cessna Caravan completed the first-ever fully autonomous 3,199-mile flight across the United States, remotely supervised from up to 2,323 miles away while autonomously handling taxi, takeoff, routing, and landing and integrating into busy airports. The cross-country mission, part of Joby's 2026 Electric Skies tour, highlights how the company's mature autonomy stack could underpin future freight, medical, disaster-response, and defense logistics operations on already-certified airframes. The milestone does not directly change the near-term certification catalyst for piloted air taxis or the key risk around elevated cash use and potential dilution. The announcement most connected to the milestone is Joby's recent S-1 filing for up to US$750 million of new equity, which underscores the near-term financing question around supporting certification, manufacturing ramp, and a broader autonomy roadmap. Joby's narrative projects $718.3 million revenue and $44.9 million earnings by 2029, requiring 83.5% yearly revenue growth and a $923.1 million earnings increase from -$878.2 million today, while more cautious analysts assumed about 141.5% annual revenue growth to roughly US$319.0 million by 2029.

Archer Aviation said the U.S. antitrust waiting period has expired on its planned acquisition of Boeing's Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu subsidiaries, satisfying a key condition for the deal to close. The deal still requires other customary closing conditions, including further regulatory approvals that Archer says are underway, and the company continues to expect completion by the end of 2026. The acquisition would combine the three Boeing units' work in autonomy, eVTOL aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems and airspace intelligence with Archer's own aircraft and its AI foundation model, ZEE. Archer pitches the combined business as an end-to-end physical AI platform for aerospace and defense. Archer shares were down 1.23% in premarket.

Vertical Aerospace has appointed Fabrice Brégier, the former chief executive of Airbus Commercial Aircraft, as chairman of its board, effective Sept. 21. Brégier brings more than three decades of experience across commercial aviation, helicopters, defense and technology, having served as CEO of Airbus Commercial Aircraft from 2012 to 2016 and later as chief operating officer of Airbus Group and president of Airbus Commercial Aircraft from 2017 to 2018. Earlier he was COO of Airbus from 2006 to 2012, where he was involved in the development of the A350 program, and he previously served as president and CEO of Eurocopter, now Airbus Helicopters. More recently he was president of Palantir Technologies France from 2018 through 2024. The appointment comes as the British electric aircraft developer moves from developing and flight-testing its all-electric Valo eVTOL aircraft toward certification and commercial deployment, and expands its work in defense and autonomous aviation. Brégier succeeds Ben Story, who had served as interim chairman since May and will remain a board member; the appointment does not itself change the company's certification timetable, commercial launch plans or the status of its defense initiatives.