The electric aircraft industry received another boost of confidence this week as United Airlines paid Archer Aviation a $10 million deposit for 100 of the company’s vertical take-off and landing aircraft, the manufacturer announced Wednesday. The payment follows a 2021 conditional agreement between the companies in which United, along with regional partner Mesa Airlines, committed to the acquisition of up to 200 of the aircraft, once operational.
Archer recently completed its production aircraft’s preliminary design review, which is to “ensure the program is on track and design is mature enough to proceed to the next development phase and kick-off of production of long lead-time hardware,” according to the company.
The announcement comes about a week after American Airlines invested in hydrogen-electric engine developer ZeroAvia and a few weeks after American made a deposit to Vertical Aerospace for 50 electric aircraft. United and Alaska Airlines also have invested in ZeroAvia.