DUBAI: Dubai commuters may soon have a new way to skip traffic: air taxis. Joby Aviation conducted the first test flight of its fully-electric air taxi in the emirate this week, a major milestone in the city’s efforts to integrate airborne transport into existing mobility networks as early as next year.

Joby hopes its air-taxis will ease pressure on existing ground transportation and offer travelers a faster alternative as Dubai faces increasing congestion. “We want to change the way people commute,” Anthony Khoury, Joby’s UAE General Manager, said.

A journey from Dubai’s main airport DXB to Palm Jumeirah aboard the Joby Aerial Taxi will take roughly twelve minutes, the company predicts, as opposed to 45 minutes by car.

While Joby’s long-term ambition is to make its aerial taxis “affordable for everybody to use,” Khoury says, they acknowledge early pricing will likely target higher-income travelers.

“As with any novel technology, early days might be a bit more premium.” The demonstration flight was held on Monday at an isolated desert site southeast of Dubais downtown and was designed to emulate a typical aerial taxi journey, according to Joby Aviation officials.

In a ceremony attended by senior government officials, transport executives and company representatives, the experimental aircraft executed a vertical takeoff, flew for several miles, and then returned for a vertical landing.

The Joby Aerial Taxi, the flagship electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developed by the California-based company, can fly distances of up to 160 kilometres at speeds reaching 320km/hr (200mph). w

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025