Joby Aviation Is Flying in Dubai and Texas. Here's When Real Revenue Actually Shows Up.
Key Points
Joby is testing its eVTOL aircraft in Texas and hopes to launch initial passenger flights in Dubai by year-end.
It's working through FAA certification, building out vertiport infrastructure, and scaling aircraft manufacturing.
Blade generates most of Joby's revenue, while meaningful eVTOL revenue likely won't arrive until 2028.
Joby Aviation's (NYSE: JOBY) electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft combine the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed of a fixed-wing airplane, using electric propulsion to transport a pilot and up to four passengers at speeds up to 200 mph with zero operating emissions.
These aircraft address urban traffic congestion by offering transit that is up to 10 times faster than driving. The urban air mobility (UAM) market could become massive. Morgan Stanley projects the UAM industry could grow to $1 trillion by 2040 and $9 trillion by 2050.
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Joby's aircraft are flying now, but the company has a long road ahead. Here's when investors can expect the real revenue to begin showing up.
Image source: Joby Aviation.
Joby is taking flight in Texas and Dubai
On Sept. 10, Joby kicked off a week-long flight campaign in Texas across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. These flights are part of the White House-backed Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), which lets Joby test flight corridors, noise profiles, and air traffic procedures in real metropolitan airspace under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight.
Last year, Joby completed test flights in Dubai, flying 17 minutes from Margham to Al Maktoum International Airport. It hopes to launch early passenger flights there by the end of this year. Before launching flights in Dubai, the company needs to finalize the vertiport infrastructure and secure local regulatory authorizations from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority.
What Joby must accomplish before commercial takeoff
Initial flights are underway, but Joby still has much work ahead, including regulatory approvals and scaling manufacturing. Joby is currently in the fifth and final stage of FAA type certification, where the regulators give their stamp of approval for its aircraft. From here, the company must still gain approval to manufacture and operate its aircraft.
Joby must scale aircraft production from low-rate prototypes to commercial volumes. To overcome manufacturing bottlenecks, Joby formed a joint venture with Toyota Motor to apply automotive mass-production techniques to its aircraft assembly.
Here's when Joby starts making real revenue
Joby is generating real revenue today mainly through Blade Urban Air Mobility, which it acquired for $92.4 million. The acquisition gave Joby an operational air charter brokerage, an established customer base, and infrastructure across key regions like New York City and southern Europe. In the second quarter, Blade generated $36.2 million of Joby's $38.6 million total revenue.
Initial passenger revenue is expected to start later this year or early 2027, with operations scaling from there. However, passenger revenue likely won't begin to accelerate until 2028, which depends on receiving full FAA type certification, ramping up manufacturing, and deploying fleet production into commercial ridesharing networks.
Courtney Carlsen has positions in Joby Aviation. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.