Archer Aviation’s partner, Soracle, a joint venture between Japan Airlines and Sumitomo Corporation, has been selected to lead the establishment of air taxi services in the Osaka Prefecture.
This designation makes Archer the sole U.S. eVTOL manufacturer set to play a key role in the establishment of air taxi services in Osaka. Soracle intends to deploy Archer’s Midnight aircraft as the core part of its fleet.
The agreements with the Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City are seen as a critical step toward building out the operational, regulatory, and community frameworks needed to connect Osaka and the broader Kansai region with quiet, sustainable, and safe air taxi flights.
Archer CEO and Founder Adam Goldstein, said, “We’re proud of our continued partnership with Soracle, and applaud their latest milestone securing air taxi rights in Osaka. It was an honor to host Minister Nakano and the Japanese delegation this past week, and I look forward to deepening our relationship in the country as we build the foundation for commercial air taxi services in Japan.”
Soracle CEO Yukihiro Ota also commented on the announcement, stating, “We are honored to announce the partnership agreement with Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City to realize our commercial eVTOL air taxi service in the region. Thanks to Archer’s dedicated and continuous cooperation and support, we are confident that we can achieve this goal and realize the social implementation together with Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City.”
Archer and Soracle previously announced a strategic alliance in November 2024 to jointly launch air taxi operations in Japan, with the goal of offering services in cities where existing ground transportation is constrained by traffic or geographic barriers. The partnership recently displayed Archer’s Midnight aircraft at the Osaka Kansai World Expo to showcase its planned future air taxi service in the Kansai region.
Separately, a delegation from Japan, including Hiromasa Nakano, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau; and the Consul General of Japan in San Francisco visited Archer’s headquarters for a briefing with the company’s leadership. The discussions focused on how the parties can realize air taxi services across the country.
