New York City’s East 34th Street Heliport in midtown Manhattan is going electric.
The news was revealed when the operator of the heliport, Atlantic Aviation, a fixed-base operator with over 100 locations, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced a renewal of the heliport’s five-year lease.
The Big Apple will serve as a launch market for both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines as their partnerships with electric aircraft manufacturers Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, respectively, take off with flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The heliport itself is a hub for flights in and around the city, and it also handles flights for the nearby New York University Langone Health Center.
Under the terms of the renewal agreement, Atlantic Aviation will retrofit the heliport with the necessary infrastructure and electric chargers within one year following Federal Aviation Administration certification for commercial operation of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. That FAA approval is expected to come in 2025.
John Redcay, Chief Commercial and Sustainability Officer at Atlantic, said that the heliport “will support New York City on its journey to facilitating quiet and sustainable aviation operations.”
East 34th Street Heliport will install two different types of chargers to accommodate the two different standards used by Archer and Joby, which use the Global Electric Aviation Charging System (GEACS) and Combined Charging System (CCS), respectively.
“New York City is leading the way in embracing this exciting new technology—electric vertical takeoff and landing—that will bring significant quality of life improvements for New Yorkers and new sustainable transportation,” said Andrew Kimball, CEO of the EDC, who pointed out that the migration to electric aircraft will result in “quieter and greener helicopter alternatives” for New Yorkers.