On June 30, 2025 Joby Aviation, Inc., a company developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service announced that its electric air taxi has completed a series of piloted, electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) wingborne flights in Dubai, marking the start of its commercial market readiness efforts in the region. These efforts will further develop Joby’s readiness in anticipation of carrying its first passengers in 2026 and marks a major step in the company’s three-pronged commercialization strategy: direct operations, aircraft sales, and regional partnerships. 

In July of 2024, Joby demonstrated its potential for emissions-free regional journeys. The company’s hydrogen-electric air taxi demonstrator had built on Joby’s successful battery-electric air taxi development program and demonstrated the potential for hydrogen to unlock emissions-free, regional journeys that didn’t require a runway. The hydrogen-electric program built on technology developed by Joby subsidiary H2FLY and was supported through Joby’s partnership with the U.S. Air Force’ Agility Prime program. 

The landmark test flight, believed to be the first forward flight of a vertical take-off and landing aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen had been completed using a converted Joby pre-production prototype battery-electric aircraft fitted with a liquid hydrogen fuel tank and fuel cell system. It landed with 10% of its hydrogen fuel load remaining.

Jacob Wilson, (Acting) Branch Chief, AFWERX Agility Prime, said: "Agility Prime has been very supportive of hydrogen-powered aircraft development and testing as it aligns with the program’s goals to advance transformative vertical lift technologies and broader Department of Defense operational energy goals of energy substitution and diversification, and energy demand reduction.”

Joby’s hydrogen-electric demonstrator was part of the Company’s future technology program and was the result of several years of collaboration between a small team at Joby and H2FLY, Joby’s wholly-owned subsidiary based in Stuttgart, Germany. The converted aircraft previously completed more than 25,000 miles of testing as a battery-electric aircraft at Joby’s base in Marina, CA.

Using the same airframe and overall architecture as Joby’s core, battery-electric aircraft, this demonstrator featured a liquid hydrogen fuel tank, designed and built by Joby, which stored up to 40 kilograms of liquid hydrogen, alongside a reduced mass of batteries. Hydrogen was fed into a fuel cell system, designed and built by H2FLY, to produce electricity, water, and heat. The electricity produced by the hydrogen fuel cell powered the six electric motors on the Joby aircraft, while the batteries provided additional power primarily during take-off and landing.

As part of Joby’s wider commitment to leading the way on the development of new aviation technologies, it recently acquired Xwing Inc., an industry leader in the development of autonomous technology for aviation. Xwing has been flying autonomous aircraft since 2020, with 250 fully autonomous flights and more than 500 auto-landings completed to date, using the Superpilot software it developed in-house.

For more information: 

Joby Aviation 

H2FLY 

U.S. Air Force’ Agility Prime program