Archer, Southwest tie up for (maybe eventual) eVTOL connections

Archer Aviation is making major moves towards developing its operational base in California. Last month the aspiring eVTOL manufacturer and operator announced a deal with Kilroy Realty to develop a transport hub in San Francisco Bay. It also signed Signature Aviation to help support operations broadly at airports. Now the company is adding Southwest Airlines to the mix.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the two will see Archer and Southwest “collaborate on a concept of operations that lays the foundation for integrated electric air taxi networks that would support California airports and the surrounding communities that Southwest serves.”

We’ve proudly served as California’s largest carrier for nearly 25 years, and integrating Archer’s electric aircraft into the travel journey potentially gives us an innovative opportunity to enhance the experience of flying Southwest.

– Paul Cullen, Vice President Real Estate at Southwest Airlines

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A maybe, eventually, vague idea of what’s coming

As with the two real estate deals, the announcement with Southwest is a MoU, not a formal contract. It creates an opportunity to develop customer flow between the companies, but no guarantees of anything.

It also does not come with a timeline of any sort. The Kilroy site is not expected to open until late 2025 at the earliest, and there is no set timeline for FAA certification of the Archer Midnight aircraft. A Southwest spokesperson shared that it expects “to collaborate with Archer over the next several years.”

Flying the (almost) last mile

Archer sees an opportunity to serve the last mile trips for travelers, connecting them into larger aviation networks at airports in California and elsewhere. The Archer UAM business line will see the company operate its own aircraft directly for consumers. This is the group Southwest aims to partner with.

By linking “Southwest’s impressive network of airports in California and their frequent intrastate flights with our planned network, Southwest customers could someday complete door-to-door trips like Santa Monica to Napa in less than three hours,” explains Nikhil Goel, Chief Commercial Officer at Archer.

The route network proposed in the Bay Area with Kilroy as the hub would support that onward service. The company identified Signature Aviation as its operating base for San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, while Atlantic Aviation would serve as the base in Napa (and San Jose).

Flying directly to Napa rather than commercial service to Sonoma County Airport could save an hour drive time for travelers. Even greater time savings are likely for passengers flying into San Francisco or Oakland. At the same time, however, the operations still only get travelers to the airport, not their actual destination.

Additionally, travelers would still be subject to the scheduling of the flights. Archer says it schedules a 15 minute boarding buffer into the travel estimates. That also assumes, however, that the eVTOL portion of travel would happen in an on-demand fashion, as soon as the passenger showed up.

And for passengers at SFO, the Kilroy hub is not even quite at the airport. The proposed pair (without a ton of obvious space for growth) of vertiport pads are just under three miles north of the airport as the eVTOL flies, but a 6 mile, 15 minute drive on the ground.

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Differing business models

Southwest is not the only major US airline with Archer as a partner. United Airlines has also announced significant plans with Archer, though with a significantly different approach to the market.

United’s deal, however, is with Archer Direct, the B2B side of Archer’s operations. It includes a potential purchase of 200 aircraft, plus another 100 options. As part of that deal United also paid a $10 million pre-delivery payment to the manufacturer, which was rewarded with nearly three million warrants representing in Archer roughly 1% of the company’s outstanding shares.

Southwest will not be owning nor operating the Archer aircraft under the scope of the current MoU. The airline also does not plan an equity investment as part of the MoU.