Joby Aviation and BETA Technologies opened Florida’s eVTOL and Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program demonstration flights on 30 October with a formation flight across Tampa Bay. Joby’s S4 eVTOL and BETA’s ALIA CX300 took off from Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg and flew to Tampa International Airport, retracing the route of the 1914 St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line. The flight was a test, not the start of commercial passenger service.
Led by the Florida Department of Transportation under the Federal Aviation Administration’s eIPP, the demonstrations are intended to gather operational data, including on noise and airspace integration, to inform the safe integration of advanced air-mobility aircraft. The flights also put aircraft operations to the test along routes planned for Florida’s Aerial Highway Network, which is intended to connect hubs including those along the I-4 corridor.
BETA has previously flown with Republic Airways along I-4, reaching up to nine legs per day at an energy cost of less than $17 per leg, according to BETA chief executive Kyle Clark. The available information does not date those flights or detail how the cost was calculated. Florida’s demonstration series is part of a broader eIPP effort to evaluate aircraft operations; the 30 October flight did not provide detailed performance data or establish that either aircraft is type-certified.