Electric air taxi company Joby Aviation has flown two of its aircraft simultaneously for the first time, marking another milestone in the company's flight testing programme.

The two-aircraft flight, completed in Marina, California on 9 May, is a demonstration of the maturity of Joby's test programme and comes two weeks after the company announced it had reached another testing landmark, successfully completing flights with a full transition from vertical to cruise flight and back again with a pilot onboard.

JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO, says: “This achievement not only demonstrates Joby's leadership in the sector; it's another indication of the power of American innovation. Our air taxi is designed, manufactured and assembled here in the US, and we are a proudly American company, employing engineers and other experts across 40 different US states. With six aircraft in our test fleet, flying multiple aircraft at a time will play an important role in accelerating our certification testing and supporting our plans to carry our first passengers next year.”

Joby has partnered with Delta Air Lines and Uber to bring its service to the US and expects Los Angeles and New York City to be launch markets. Service is planned to start shortly after Joby receives type certification from the FAA.

Outside the US, Joby recently announced a partnership with Virgin Atlantic to bring its service to the UK and has partnered with ANA Holdings, Japan's largest airline, to bring its service to Japan.

Joby's Q1 2025 shareholder letter, published last week, celebrated a second consecutive quarter of record progress toward certifying its aircraft with the FAA and reiterated plans to start passenger operations in Dubai in early 2026.

Joby has completed more than 40,000 miles of test flights across multiple aircraft, including demonstration flights in New York City, Japan and Korea. The sixth aircraft to join its flight test programme is currently undergoing final functional checks, having been powered on for the first time last month. Two aircraft are positioned at Edwards Air Force Base where they are completing testing in conjunction with the company's defence customers.