Southwest Airlines, Archer Aviation ink air-taxi deal

By Claudia Assis

The companies aim to develop air-taxi networks in California

Shares of Archer Aviation Inc. rallied more than 12% on Friday after the air-taxi maker and Southwest Airlines Co. signed a deal to develop air-taxi services in California.

Archer (ACHR) and Southwest (LUV) said they would develop plans for electric air-taxi networks using Archer's electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft at California airports where Southwest operates.

Southwest is California's largest air carrier and operates at 14 airports in the state, the airline noted. The two companies said that Archer's aircraft is designed to eventually replace 60-to-90-minute car commutes with roughly 10- to 20-minute electric air-taxi flights.

The collaboration would happen "over the next few years," the companies said, without providing further details.

Shares of Southwest rose nearly 3% Friday, in line with other airline stocks. Earlier this week, Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) reported a second-quarter profit miss and a downbeat revenue outlook, which has dragged on airline shares this week.

-Claudia Assis

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07-12-24 1549ET

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