California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi developer Joby Aviation is advancing from testing with developmental models to aircraft that meet FAA design criteria—a critical step as it aims to get agency test pilots in the cockpit later this year.
Joby on Wednesday revealed that the company’s pilots are now flying its first “FAA-conforming” aircraft, N547JX. “Conforming” means that the model aligns with Joby’s agency-approved airworthiness criteria and test plans. In other words, it is representative of the aircraft the company intends to certify and operate.
Unlike the prototype models Joby has tested for years, N547JX—powered on for the first time in November—was designed with components and structures that meet design and airworthiness criteria approved by FAA-designated representatives. It is one of five agency-conforming aircraft the company is building. Joby in February said the remaining four are all in production.
Joby alongside its internal aircraft testing has performed “for-credit” evaluations of certain equipment and systems with FAA oversight. But before it is authorized to carry passengers, it must complete full-aircraft type inspection authorization (TIA), during which FAA pilots will collect data needed to make a decision on issuing a type certificate.
“Seeing this aircraft fly means everything to our team,” said Didier Papadopoulos, Joby’s president of aircraft OEM, in a statement. “It’s the validation of years of hard work and marks our entry into the final phase of bringing this aircraft to market.”
The firm’s inaugural FAA-conforming flight coincides with the regulator’s announcement of eight winning eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) bids on Monday. More than 30 state and local governments and transportation departments applied for the eIPP, which will permit airport and other real-world operations with mature—but not yet certified—electric aircraft.
Joby over the next three years plans to demonstrate cargo delivery, passenger transportation, and medical response in Florida, conduct air taxi passenger operations at Manhattan’s Downtown Skyport and other New England locations, and develop a network of routes connecting Texas cities Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and eventually Houston. It will have further opportunities to fly in Arizona, Idaho, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah.
The news also emerges as Archer Aviation escalates the rivalry between the two air taxi developers, accusing Joby of obscuring ties to Chinese suppliers. Though Joby has disclosed a Chinese subsidiary in SEC filings dating to at least 2021, Archer in its complaint—a countersuit to Joby’s November allegations of corporate espionage—argued its China ties may be grounds for the FAA to disqualify it from the eIPP.
Joby’s Air Taxi Progress
Per Joby, the company’s 850 test flights in 2025 dwarfed its progress in 2024.
In April, it achieved its first piloted transition from hover to forward flight using a prototype, demonstrating the chief competitive advantage of eVTOL models—fixed-wing efficiency with runway independence. Since then, several flights have included transitions. Others have flown with propellers disabled to gauge the aircraft’s contingency response.
Joby’s 2025 test flights included public demonstrations at Japan’s Fuji Speedway and the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Dubai Airshow, and California International Airshow in Salinas. Several traveled between airports, including Marina Municipal Airport (KOAR) to Monterey Regional Airport (KMRY) in August.
Since its inception, the company’s test pilots have logged more than 50,000 miles across its developmental aircraft.
Joby in its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings release said it is about 80 percent of the way through internal testing and analysis ahead of for-credit testing with FAA pilots. It has also taken delivery of the first of two CAE flight simulators, based on the company’s 3000-series model for helicopters, that it said can create the “same ultra-realistic environment used to train pilots for the world’s leading airlines.” The company estimates the two simulators will be able to train 250 pilots per year.
As it ramps up testing, Joby is also preparing for a manufacturing push. Its pilot production line in Marina produces two aircraft per month. But it aims to increase that to four per month in 2027 after announcing plans in January to acquire a 700,000-square-foot facility in Dayton, Ohio. The company has multiple facilities in Dayton that it believes will eventually churn out 500 aircraft per year.
Joby in February announced plans to begin passenger air taxi service in Dubai later this year, integrating its aircraft with Uber’s ride-hailing platform. Those plans could be placed in jeopardy as the U.S. and Iran war in the Middle East. Iranian drones have reportedly struck near Dubai International Airport, where Joby is building a vertiport.