Joby chooses Wright brothers’ Monterey County home as flying taxi production site

MARINA – Beating out the city of Marina among others, Dayton, Ohio, was announced Monday as Joby Aviation’s choice to build its aircraft production facility, capable of delivering up to 500 aircraft per year and supporting up to 2,000 jobs.

Joby Aviation has been doing business in Marina for five years building and testing its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles for commercial passenger service, and has already considered Marina as one of five possible sites to build a manufacturing plant for 580,000 square feet. .

Joby’s selection of Dayton International Airport in Ohio as the site for its first large-scale aircraft production facility followed an extensive competitive site selection process and is subject to standard due diligence, to state and local incentive approvals, permits and other legal and regulatory matters that usually accompany such investment projects, the company said in a statement.

“We are building the future of aviation where it all began, in Dayton, Ohio,” Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in the release. “The Wright Brothers harnessed the revolutionary technology of their time to open the skies, and we intend to do the same – this time, delivering quiet, emissions-free flight that we hope will have a world-wide impact so profound in our world. »

Joby’s production aircraft is designed to carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph, with a maximum range of 100 miles and a revolutionary quiet noise profile that is barely audible in the context of cities. The company plans to operate these aircraft as part of aerial ride-sharing networks in cities and communities around the world, starting in 2025, building on partnerships it has developed with Delta and Uber.

Joby’s long-term investor Toyota, which worked with Joby on the design and successful launch of the company’s pilot production line in Marina, plans to continue advising Joby as it prepares for production scale of its commercial passenger air taxi in Ohio.

In June, Joby celebrated a milestone by rolling out its first aircraft out of its pilot manufacturing plant in Marina and announced that it had received its Special Certificate of Airworthiness for that aircraft from the Federal Aviation Administration, allowing it to begin flight tests of its first production prototype. . The day was punctuated by an unmanned flight of the vehicle around the Marina airport.

The aircraft is expected to become the first-ever eVTOL vehicle to be delivered to a customer when it moves to Edwards Air Force Base in 2024 as part of Joby’s $131 million Agility Prime contract with the U.S. Air Force. The aircraft will then undergo initial flight testing before being delivered to the Air Force base where it will be used to demonstrate a range of potential logistics use cases.

Joby has been flying full-size planes since 2017 and its pre-production aircraft prototypes have flown more than 30,000 miles since 2019. The Marina facility is one of three in California with others in Santa Cruz – where The company is based – and in San Carlos. . Joby Aviation also has a facility in Munich.

“Even though Joby Aviation has announced plans to build its first large-scale aircraft production facility in Dayton, Ohio, the company’s growth will continue to positively impact our region, fueling the technological innovation in the transport of clean energy and the development of an industrial sector. ” the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership said in a statement Monday. “The company will continue to have a strong presence here in the Monterey Bay region, with a research and development center in Marina and a headquarters in Santa Cruz, and its growth will continue to fuel innovation throughout our region.”

Joby Aviation is a member organization of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership as well as a member of its board of directors.

Joby’s headquarters, research and development and pilot production facilities will remain in California, according to the company. With approximately 150 vacancies across Joby Aviation’s three Northern California locations, Joby continues to grow its presence in the state.

Joby plans to begin hiring in the coming months, with the first positions expected to focus on building the large-scale facility and machining parts that will initially be integrated into Joby’s low-volume production line in California .

The City of Marina worked with Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Monterey County, local legislators, UC Santa Cruz, CSU Monterey Bay and other regional partners to implement incentives tax, grant proposals and other financial arrangements to help Joby Aviation build its manufacturing plant at the Marina Municipal Airport.

In May, Marina submitted a proposal containing approximately $226 million in incentives in the form of grants, property tax, sales tax and use tax, among other incentives.

The Wright brothers, who invented and flew the first powered airplane, lived and worked in Dayton and opened the first aircraft factory in the United States in 1910. The city is also home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and headquarters of the American army. Air Force Research Laboratories which played a key role in supporting the development of Joby.