eVTOLs to join the Friendly Skies

[Windycty]

Today United Airlines made a bold move and invested $1B into Archer Aviation to purchase 200 eVTOL Aircraft (Electric powered Vertical Takeoff/Landing).  I work for United and I feel this is an exciting and a little nerve racking idea. The plan is to use these eVTOLs as air taxies to shuttle passengers to the major airports with a launch date of 2024.

https://www.businessinsider.com/united-airlines-orders-1-billion-in-evtol-aircraft-from-archer-2021-2

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2021/02/10/archer-united-airlines-spac-air-taxi/?sh=6f080da54474

-Windy

[AKKuya]

I work for American under the Envoy regional carrier. What I interpret this as United spending 1 billion dollars to cater to thr first class clientele. Nothing more needs tp be said after that.

[Windycty]

I work for American under the Envoy regional carrier. What I interpret this as United spending 1 billion dollars to cater to thr first class clientele. Nothing more needs tp be said after that.

I'd have to agree, it would be a hard sale in Chicago when you can take the Blue Line (L Train) from Union Station out to ORD for $5.00.

[AKKuya]

I watched a documentary many years ago on why K-Mart failed.  The corporate leaders decided back in the 90s to buy the mall chain of stores called Borders and other business ventures.  Walmart was constantly investing in their cash registers especially the part of credit cards and the software to process the transactions.

K-mart didn't put the money into the computerized cash registers with the upgraded software and connection wiring.  The result was shoppers waiting 10+ minutes for a credit/debit card to go through towards the end of the K-mart era.

Shoppers knew where to go for easy and quick transactions.  Wally world.

That's an oversimplification of the story but there were other factors that led to the demise of the Blue light Special.

Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the travel industry has been severely hampered with loss of paying passengers compared to prior to the pandemic.  How many pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, agents, and other employees have been furloughed, loss their jobs and quit due to lack of hours?

The United station next door to mine in Columbia, MO has only one aircraft a day with service to Chicago.  The kick at 0700 and the RON at 1630.  Some days, no aircraft arrives from Chicago.

United has a billion dollars to spend on a startup.  What is going through the minds of all the former United personnel without jobs?

[Windycty]

United has a billion dollars to spend on a startup.  What is going through the minds of all the former United personnel without jobs?

Well I can tell you the employees that took early retirement and volunteer separation are scratching their heads, they stepped up to reduce payroll costs. I was furloughed in Oct and recently called back to work as a result of the PSP funds. I really hope this isn't reckless spending and that it pays off in the future. We've been told that UAL raised a lot of liquid capital over the last few months.

The part that I can't get in line with is that Archer does not have a flying prototype, yet the airline threw all this money at them. I'm all for reducing the carbon footprint but there is a time and place for everything.