Joby Aviation Flies Air Taxi From JFK to Manhattan, Stock Jumps 8%
NEW YORK, April 28 —
Joby Aviation flew the first electric air taxi from JFK to Manhattan on Monday. Shares jumped roughly 8% on the demonstration.
- JOBY shares rose ~8% on the NYC flight, trading around $8.78
- The highest analyst price target on the Street is $18 — roughly 105% above current levels
- Earnings are upcoming; investors are focused on FAA certification timeline updates
What Actually Happened
Joby flew its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft from JFK Airport into Manhattan. Not a simulation. Not a hover test in the desert. A real flight through the most congested airspace in the country.
That alone signals how far FAA coordination has come, even before formal certification.
The NYC route matters because it's the exact use case air taxi bulls have pitched for years: skip the $80 cab ride and 90 minutes of traffic from JFK by flying over it. If Joby can operate here, every other metro market is easier. The demo also puts Joby ahead of competitors like Archer Aviation and Lilium — no other eVTOL company has logged a public flight in a tier-one market.
That said, a demo flight is not a commercial service. Nobody bought a ticket.
The Catch
Joby has $53mn in trailing-twelve-month revenue and a negative forward P/E of -18.9x. The company spends far more than it earns, funded by the promise of a market that doesn't exist yet. The stock has been public since 2021. The core question hasn't changed: when does the FAA actually certify this aircraft for commercial passenger flights?
Every eVTOL company in history has missed its original certification timeline. Joby initially targeted 2024. The goalposts keep moving because the FAA has never certified an aircraft in this category before — there is no template. Each milestone looks great in isolation. But the gap between "impressive demo" and "revenue-generating route network" has swallowed billions of investor capital across the industry.
Bottom Line
This is a real engineering milestone and a sharp piece of marketing. Flying JFK to Manhattan is the kind of thing that makes the evening news and sticks with institutional investors. But at $53mn TTM revenue and deep losses, Joby remains a bet on regulatory timing, not fundamentals. The $18 street-high target assumes a lot goes right on schedule.
Two things to listen for on the upcoming earnings call: cash burn rate and specific language on FAA certification timing. If Joby gives a date, the stock re-rates. If they don't, the demo was just a demo.
For a full breakdown of Joby Aviation's financials, generate a free report at basisreport.com/stock/joby.
Basis Report does not hold positions in securities discussed. This is not investment advice.