Joby Aviation Inc. will build a $477.5 million plant at the Dayton International Airport to build electric air taxis. The move will create about 2,000 high tech jobs.
Monday morning, representatives from Joby along with state and municipal leaders and the economic development group, JobsOhio, announced the project in the front lawn of the Historic Wright Brothers' Manson in Oakwood.
Joby's new Ohio facility will build, test and fly all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxis that will predominantly be used for commercial passenger transportation. The manufacturing site will be 140-acres at the Dayton International Airport. Already there's a flight training simulator at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport.
A pilot will carry four passengers about one hundred miles. The aircraft is extremely quiet, produces zero emissions and flies at a speed of about 200 miles per hour. Clients will order the air taxi similar to how people order an Uber.
Nationwide–states heavily competed to land Joby Aviation. In the end, founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt says he chose the Miami Valley because of its strong technical and lifestyle assets.
"It’s the quality of life, it’s the incredible partnership with the Air Force research lab at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Ohio is number one in parts supply for Boeing and AirBus, it’s number three in the nation for manufacturing," explains Bevirt. "The depth and breadth and the quality of the manufacturing workforce here in Ohio are just spectacular. "
U.S. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown says these advanced aircrafts is another way Ohio is getting rid of the label of being a 'rust belt' state. "We're burying the term in Licking County with Intel, we're burying it with Wright Patterson and the research lab in the Miami Valley, we're burying it with Nasa Glenn in Cleveland, we're burying it with the Armstrong Center in Sandusky, we're burying it with the next generation jet engines in Cincinnati and east of Cincinnati, we're burying it today with Joby Aviation."
Joby Ohio plans to operate the aircraft as part of a global aerial ridesharing network. "Ohio’s legacy in aviation leadership begins with the Wright Brothers and continues now with Joby Aviation, as they launch a new era in advanced aviation manufacturing and aerial mobility in Dayton,” said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Mike Carey commented Joby is moving into a state that believes in cooperation. "This is a bipartisan group of people. This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democrat issue, these are American issues," said Carey.
"Joby welcome to an area that knows how to work together."
“The aircraft that will roll off Joby Ohio’s production lines will redefine urban transportation and contribute to a transformational change in the way people and goods travel. We welcome Joby and celebrate the new chapter of air mobility history that will be made here in Ohio, the Heart of Aviation and Aerospace.”
In 2025, Joby Ohio expects to annually manufacture up to 500 air taxis.
Beginning next year, the company will raise the new air taxi facility, with it coming online in 2025. In the interim, the company will use existing nearby buildings at the airport. Bevirt also wants communities to build vertiports—places where these air taxis can land and take off and where people can board.
The company’s total new payroll is expected to surpass $140 million.
