It’s an eight-minute hop from Heathrow to central London and a quarter of an hour from Manchester Airport to Leeds.
That’s the pitch Virgin Atlantic and Joby Aviation made to the business travel market on Wednesday, as the two companies signed a binding, multi-year deal at the Farnborough International Airshow to bring electric air taxis to the UK.
The deal turns the partnership first announced in 2025 into a commercial arrangement, making Virgin Atlantic the exclusive partner of the UK-based air taxi service Joby. It builds on Joby’s existing relationship with Delta Air Lines, which owns 49 percent of Virgin Atlantic.
Under the deal, Virgin will sell the service through its app and website, allowing travelers to book air taxi connections alongside a long-haul ticket. London and Manchester are the launch points, with an attached Manchester connection in the North of England.
“This agreement marks an exciting next chapter in our relationship with Joby and an important step in bringing electric air taxi services to the UK,” said Corneel Koster, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic. “Together, we will create a seamless journey for our customers, making it easier than ever to travel between cities, towns and our airports.”
For business owners, there are three things to note.
The first is competition. The signing of the deal comes two days after Vertical Aerospace confirmed it will build its flying taxis in Britain following a further £10 million in government funding. Britain’s domestic champion has a factory and jobs. American Entrant has an airline, a booking channel and a customer list. Distribution, as any founder knows, is rarely half as easy.
The second is control, and sets a timetable. Joby is responsible for aircraft operations, route management and obtaining UK Civil Aviation Authority approvals. The CAA’s stated ambition is to have regulatory frameworks in place for passenger eVTOL aircraft by the end of 2028, with rules for airworthiness, pilot certification and vertiport design still under consultation. Joby’s certification continues under a bilateral safety agreement between the FAA and the CAA. There is nothing to carry a paying passenger before those papers are cleared.
The third is the supply chain. Vertiports require construction, power, land management, security and maintenance, none of which Joby or Virgin will build alone. The government has already committed £46.5 million to speeding up drones and flying taxis, with £26.5 billion of that going to the CAA, and value the wider sector up to £103 billion to the economy by 2050. Smaller engineering and infrastructure firms have a window to put aircraft pieces in place now, while procurement is being built.
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, was careful with his language. “The UK is one of the markets that are most interested in this technology, and this partnership can open up important opportunities for Joby as we bring taxi services to other busy cities in the country,” he said.
The aircraft itself uses six tilt-rotor propellers, takes off vertically at a fraction of the noise of a helicopter and is designed for routes of up to 100 miles. Joby has flown thousands of test flights, including point-to-point demonstrations between JFK and Manhattan. The full model drew crowds to Potters Fields Park in London earlier this month.
Coming in a week in which Farnborough opened with 48.8 billion orders, the announcement is a reminder that the race for improved air travel is now fighting for as many customers as airframes. For the average SME, an eight-minute Heathrow transfer won’t be a linear thing anytime soon. For those who build, provide services or finance the infrastructure under it, the clock has started this week.
