Jaunt Has Set 2026 As The Date for Bringing Urban Air Mobility to the Market
Personal aircraft taxi service at a price comparable to the cost of a rideshare or car service in a fraction of the time? Are we there yet? Not quite, but as Martin Peryea, CEO, Jaunt Air Mobility, explained to Grant Harrell, the reality is closer than one may think.
“We are working hard to get us there,” Peryea assured Harrell. “The entire aerospace industry is working towards developing an all-electric safe aircraft. We do have a few more years of development work that needs to take place before we’re there.”
Jaunt Air Mobility’s work to make this futuristic flight dream occur combines fixed-wing aircraft technology with attributes from a helicopter to provide an efficient airplane that can take off and land vertically but cruise like an airplane. Six years ago, the technology didn’t exist to pull this off with batteries alone. Still, with advancements in battery and motor technologies, Peryea said they can now do it at Jaunt Air Mobility.
The realization of urban air mobility will occur if it’s safe, and Jaunt put safety first in its design. “Our aircraft takes advantage of the gliding capability and the auto rotation capability of both a fixed-wing airplane and a helicopter,” Peryea said. These capabilities are critical backups to guide the vehicle safely to the ground in the event of a battery power loss.
The compounded aircraft concept isn’t new. Peryea said versions of this idea existed since the 1960s, but those aircraft never made it to market for one reason or another. “Our particular aircraft design capitalizes on the technologies of a helicopter, but we have the ability to slow down the main rotor, the lifting device, in flight. And you can do that because it is being powered by electric motors.”
