The U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration have selected eight projects across 26 states for a new Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program, or eIPP. The projects are intended to generate operational experience and data that can help shape future rules for passenger, cargo, medical, offshore and increasingly automated aircraft operations.

The announcement, dated March 9, 2026, said operations were expected to begin by summer 2026. It did not report completed flights, commercial service or measured safety and performance results.

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What changed

The programme moves the U.S. government from reviewing proposals to organising selected, multi-project operational pilots for Advanced Air Mobility aircraft and services.

Advanced Air Mobility is a broad category rather than a single aircraft type. It can include passenger transport, cargo and logistics, emergency medical response, offshore operations and aircraft with increasing levels of automation.

eVTOL means electric vertical takeoff and landing. These aircraft are designed to take off and land vertically using electrically powered propulsion systems, but their rotor, wing and propulsion arrangements can differ substantially from one design to another.

The eight selected projects involve aircraft manufacturers, operators and state partners. Together, they cover urban air taxi services, regional passenger transport, cargo, medical response, offshore and energy-sector transport, and autonomous-flight concepts.

The U.S. transportation department and FAA said data from the projects would be used to develop regulations intended to enable Advanced Air Mobility operations at scale. FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau said the programme would provide operational experience to inform standards for these operations.

How the pilot programme is structured

The FAA and the Department of Transportation received more than 30 proposals. A technical review team evaluated them on factors including:

  • the ability to accelerate aircraft integration;
  • the range of proposed operational concepts;
  • potential regulatory and policy insights;
  • aircraft-development or manufacturing experience; and
  • the strength of industry, academic and government partnerships.

This structure is significant because it focuses on how aircraft and services operate in the aviation system, not only on whether an aircraft can complete a flight demonstration.

Real-world operations can reveal practical issues involving routes, infrastructure, airspace coordination, operating procedures and human oversight. Those issues may not be fully established through laboratory testing or component-level demonstrations alone.

What the projects could test

The Texas Department of Transportation project is intended to support regional flights connecting Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, with eventual expansion to Houston. It also describes air-taxi networks extending from each city. The listed industry partners are Archer, BETA, Joby and Wisk.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey project includes 12 operational concepts across New England, including eVTOL passenger operations at the Manhattan heliport.

Projects in Utah, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina and Albuquerque cover additional passenger, cargo, medical, offshore, regional and autonomous-flight concepts. The Albuquerque project focuses on early advances in autonomous operations and involves Reliable Robotics.

The range of projects matters because the requirements for a short urban passenger route may differ from those for regional transport, cargo delivery or emergency response. Aircraft performance, infrastructure, airspace procedures and the role of pilots or automated systems may vary between projects.

The announcement does not provide aircraft models, flight frequencies, route maps, passenger capacities, ranges, noise measurements or energy-use figures for the selected projects.

What selection does not establish

Selection for the eIPP is not blanket approval for commercial eVTOL service or autonomous passenger operations. The announcement presents the programme as a way to collect information for future regulations and standards; it does not say that a complete regulatory framework for all Advanced Air Mobility operations has already been finalised.

It also does not establish that the aircraft associated with each project have completed every certification or operational approval required for the proposed services. No completed safety, performance or passenger outcomes were reported.

The source described intended operations and a future use for the resulting data. It did not establish that any of the listed services was already operating commercially, or when members of the public might be able to book them. For the Texas project in particular, no launch dates, fares or schedules were announced.

What to watch next

The main near-term question is whether the selected operations begin on the announced summer 2026 target and whether all eight projects follow the same timetable. The announcement did not specify which project would start first.

Further evidence will depend on the details of the operations themselves: the aircraft used, routes and infrastructure, levels of pilot or autonomous control, and the safety and performance measures applied during flights.

The longer-term outcome will be how the FAA uses the operational data. The programme could help inform formal standards, regulations and approvals, but the announcement does not yet show what those rules will contain or whether the proposed passenger, cargo, medical and autonomous concepts will progress beyond testing into sustained service.

Sources