A plan to bring air taxi service to a luxury residential tower in Century City was announced Thursday, marking a potential step toward widespread urban air mobility in Los Angeles.
Real estate firm Reuben Brothers said Thursday it has partnered with Joby Aviation to establish a vertiport — a specialized infrastructure designed for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft — at the Park Elm Residences at Century Plaza.
The proposed vertiport would use the building’s existing helipad and could allow residents to book on-demand flights across the Los Angeles area, reducing trips that can take hours by car to just minutes by air, according to the announcement.
Joby’s aircraft are designed for vertical takeoff and landing and produce no operating emissions, with the company currently in the final stages of federal certification for commercial service, officials said.
“Given its Century City location, Park Elm Residences at Century Plaza, South Tower is ideally positioned to anchor a broader Los Angeles vertiport network,” Rob Wiesenthal, CEO of Joby’s Blade Air Mobility division, said in a statement. “We expect this network to completely reshape how residents move through the city, beginning with airport trips.”
Plans also call for a dedicated passenger lounge within the residential development, which would be the company’s first such facility in a residential building.
Officials said the project is part of a broader effort to build a network of vertiports across the region, potentially expanding access to air taxi service beyond a single location.
Joby and Reuben Brothers are jointly seeking the necessary local, state and federal approvals before the service can begin, officials said.
Joby has partnered with Delta Air Lines and Uber and is participating in a federal pilot program aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, according to the statement.
If approved, the project would mark one of the first attempts to incorporate air taxi service directly into a residential development in Los Angeles.