At its Joby Aviation, Inc Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call on May 12 Didier Papadopoulos, Head of Aircraft Development and Manufacturing reported that over the last quarter, the company has moved from close to 70% of means of compliance accepted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to close to 80%.
“We recently had our first Area Specific Certification Plan accepted by the FAA, having become the first eVTOL company to submit one back in March. We’ve since submitted a further two plans and have the majority of the remainder ready to submit as soon as the relevant means of compliance are accepted.”
According to JoeBen Bevirt, Joby Founder and Chief Executive Officer: “We continue to execute against our plan and we remain on-track to meet our operational goals and spending guidance for the year..…As well as continuing our test programme with our pre-production aircraft, both in the air and on the ground, we have made excellent progress with the build of our first production intent aircraft, which is scheduled to be the first to roll-off our pilot manufacturing line in Marina, California. The majority of the large composite parts for this aircraft were completed during the first quarter, and we began work on the tail and wing structural assemblies. Both of these aircraft will play a critical role in our certification campaign and we’re really pleased with the progress we are making there.”
Said Bonny Simi, Head of Operations and People: “We’re beginning to reach the execution phase of the process with our Part 135 operations certification for our on-demand service. As a reminder, we require a Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate to operate our aircraft as an air taxi service. Alongside the type certificate and the production certificate, it’s one of the three regulatory approvals we need to launch sustained commercial operations. We kicked off the Part 135 process in June of last year and completed the second stage of the process in August, having written more than 850 pages of operational procedures across more than eight manuals. And as of today, all of those manuals have been reviewed and accepted or approved by the FAA…In March of this year, we confirmed that we had entered the fourth of five stages of the process. And I’m pleased to say that we expect to complete this phase during the second quarter, followed shortly thereafter by the fifth and final stage culminating in our formal approval of our 135 Certificate.”
Meanwhile Chief Financial Officer Matt Field reported that as of the end of the third quarter, the company had USD1.2 billion in cash and short-term marketable securities, “providing a solid foundation for our operations. In the first quarter of 2022, we incurred a net loss of USD62.3 million, reflecting a loss from operations of USD94.3 million and other income of USD32 million.
(Image: Joby)