Archer Aviation today announced Nikhil Goel has joined as the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. The company says Goel will lead the execution of Archer’s global commercialisation efforts as the company prepares to bring Midnight to market in 2025 in the U.S. in partnership with United Airlines.
According to the press release “Goel brings deep industry expertise to Archer after co-founding Uber Elevate, Uber’s air taxi division, and jointly authoring the Uber Elevate white paper that is widely credited with establishing the vision for the commercial eVTOL aircraft industry.
“As Chief Commercial Officer, Goel will be responsible for spearheading Archer’s commercialisation strategy with a focus on bringing New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco online as Archer’s initial domestic markets and capturing additional international demand by stewarding partnership opportunities across several key markets, including the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.
“After starting at Uber as a product leader on the emerging markets and rider experience teams, Goel co-founded Uber Elevate. Working alongside NASA and Uber executives, Goel helped spearhead the vision for Uber Elevate which has, in turn, inspired the approach to commercialising the industry. In 2020, Goel helped spin off the Uber Elevate business in a strategic sale to Joby Aviation. Goel has been a Senior Advisor to Archer since 2020 and prior to Uber held roles at McKinsey & Company, Google, Microsoft, and NASA. He attended Vanderbilt University and earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a double major in computer engineering and economics.
“Archer’s goal is to transform urban travel, replacing 60-90 minute commutes by car, with estimated 10-20 minute electric air taxi flights that are safe, sustainable, low noise and cost competitive with ground transportation. With a range of up to 100 miles, Archer’s Midnight is a piloted, four passenger aircraft designed to perform rapid back-to-back flights with minimal charge time in between flights. Component manufacturing is already underway for Archer’s conforming Midnight aircraft, as the company is targeting final assembly of its conforming Midnight aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2023 and to begin piloted flight test operations in early 2024.”
For more information
(Image: Archer)