Air Taxis Over Manhattan: Vertical Aerospace Bets the Jetsons Were Just Early
Vertical Aerospace (EVTL) is trying to turn New York’s infamous gridlock into a spectator sport — viewed from several hundred feet up in an electric air taxi that aims to cost about what you’d pay for an Uber Black to JFK, just without the traffic, the honking, or the existential questions at the Lincoln Tunnel entrance.
Meet Valo: The Six-Seat “Uber in the Sky”
This week in New York, the UK-based company rolled out Valo (pronounced “VAY-low”), its full-scale electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, or eVTOL, with a wingspan close to 50 feet and room for six passengers plus a pilot and their bags. The aircraft is designed for trips up to roughly 100 miles, with the sweet spot being shorter hops flown back-to-back before a recharge.
Eight quiet electric rotors handle the vertical work, then four forward propellers rotate 90 degrees to push Valo into cruise, targeting speeds of around 150 miles per hour with zero operating emissions. The cabin, shown off in Manhattan with an upscale interior, is built around comfort and panoramic views, the kind of design that suggests the future of commuting might involve more Instagram stories and fewer subway delays.
Democratizing the Skies (Without the Helicopter Price Tag)
Vertical chairman Dómhnal Slattery insists this isn’t another toy for the helicopter set, which has long treated urban airspace like a private cul-de-sac. The company’s ambition is to “democratize” urban air mobility by targeting fares in the neighborhood of an Uber Black ride per seat on a six-passenger configuration — in New York, that’s roughly the $150 downtown–JFK run, before surge pricing and hurt feelings.
The economic bet is that fully electric aircraft — quieter, with lower operating and maintenance costs than conventional helicopters — can bring per-seat pricing down enough to widen the customer base beyond CEOs and hedge fund managers racing to beat the closing bell. If Vertical is right, the helicopter pad becomes less a status symbol and more a transit node, and the “last 15 miles to the airport” turns into a five- to ten-minute aerial shuttle.
The Route Map: From Downtown Pads to Stadium Lights
Valo’s New York coming-out party is not just a photo opportunity; it is the front end of a proposed network of electric routes linking Manhattan to the region’s key aviation and entertainment hubs. Vertical is working with Bristow Group, one of the world’s largest helicopter operators, and Skyports Infrastructure, which manages heliports around New York, to chart airport transfers between Manhattan and JFK, Newark, Teterboro, and even East Hampton.
Use cases under discussion range from airport shuttles to game-day hops to MetLife Stadium and sightseeing flights that lean on Valo’s spacious, quiet cabin and large windows. Existing operators like Blade, which currently rely on traditional helicopters for airport runs and charters, and Joby Aviation (JOBY), which plans to operate its own eVTOL aircraft, help underscore just how crowded this future airspace could become — more like a premium bus lane in the sky than a lonely luxury lane.
A Manufacturer, Not a Flying Taxi App
Unlike some rivals, Vertical does not plan to operate the taxi service itself; it wants to be the Boeing or Airbus of the eVTOL world, selling aircraft to airlines and operators that already know how to move people and manage complaints about carry-on luggage. The company’s order book spans roughly 1,500 pre-orders and options from carriers including American Airlines (AAL), Japan Airlines, AirAsia, GOL, Avolon, and Bristow, giving the Valo program a customer roster that looks more like a global alliance than a start-up pitch deck.
Vertical pitches itself as an “asset-light” original equipment manufacturer, leveraging partnerships with established aerospace suppliers like Honeywell, GKN, and others, while building out its own battery and propeller technology. The company says it has spent significantly less per aircraft than competitors while still aiming for a best-in-class safety and powertrain profile — an efficiency story public-market investors will parse as carefully as any performance metric.
The Regulatory Gauntlet and the 2028 Line in the Sky
None of this airborne optimism gets off the ground without regulators, and on that front Vertical is aiming high and playing the long game. Valo is slated to enter a rigorous certification process with European and UK aviation authorities, which Slattery argues are even more demanding than their U.S. counterparts, with the goal of achieving certification-standard approval around 2028.
To get there, Vertical plans to build seven Valo certification aircraft in the UK, doubling its flight-test capacity and moving into piloted transition testing — the critical moment when an eVTOL stops behaving like an elevator and starts behaving like an airplane. The company also plans a U.S. tour for Valo beginning in 2026, starting in New York, to showcase the aircraft to partners, regulators, and perhaps a few skeptical travelers who still remember the first time they trusted a rideshare app.
Beyond the Skyline: Industrial Ambition and Economic Upside
Behind the glossy renderings and Manhattan photo ops lies a straightforward industrial dream: rebuilding aircraft design and manufacturing in the UK and securing a leading position in the emerging advanced air mobility market. Founded in 2016 by entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick, better known for OVO Group, Vertical is part aerospace start-up, part industrial policy experiment, projecting that its activities could add up to £3 billion annually to the UK economy by 2035 if the market develops as hoped.
Vertical describes its mission as pioneering electric aviation and reshaping urban transport to be quieter, faster, and cleaner, a pitch that aligns neatly with climate goals and city-level pushes to curb congestion and emissions. If the company can deliver on certification, operations, and costs, the morning commute in the 2030s may involve a familiar question — “car, subway, or ride-share?” — with a new, slightly more entertaining option tacked on at the end: “or should we just fly over it?
The Sources
- Vertical Aerospace wants to “democratize” urban air travel with its Valo air taxi – Yahoo Finance
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https://finance.yahoo.com/video/vertical-aerospace-awaiting-approval-nyc-213108925.html[finance.yahoo] - Vertical Aerospace Brings Valo to New York, Outlining Plans for Electric Air Travel Routes – Press release
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vertical-aerospace-brings-valo-york-120000496.html[finance.yahoo] - Vertical Aerospace: Investor Relations
https://investor.vertical-aerospace.com/overview/default.aspx[investor.vertical-aerospace] - Vertical Aerospace Doubles Flight Test Capacity With Final Prototype – Press release (PDF)
https://vertical-aerospace.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Vertical_Aerospace_Doubles_Flight_Test_Capacity_With_Final_Prototype.pdf[vertical-aerospace] - Vertical Aerospace Eyes 2028 Certification for New Valo eVTOL – Thomasnet
https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/vertical-aerospace-valo-evtol/[thomasnet] - Vertical Aerospace – Company Profile (ADSG)
https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/members/vertical-aerospace-2/[adsgroup.org] - Vertical Aerospace – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_Aerospace[en.wikipedia] - Vertical Aerospace Ltd. – Company Profile and News – Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/EVTL:US[bloomberg] - Can electric air taxis really ease city gridlock? – Yahoo News
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https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/JOBY/[finance.yahoo] - Vertical Aerospace brings Valo eVTOL to New York, outlines plans for air taxi routes – Vertical
https://verticalmag.com/press-releases/vertical-aerospace-brings-valo-evtol-to-new-york-outlines-plans-for-air-taxi-routes/amp/[verticalmag] - Vertical Aerospace Ltd. (EVTL) – Yahoo Finance
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/EVTL/[finance.yahoo]
