A three-year Texas Department of Transportation initiative began testing electric aircraft Sept. 10 at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport. Dallas is about 42 miles south of Anna. The program, called Project Nexus, featured demonstrations by BETA Technologies and Joby Aviation. Joby’s aircraft uses electric propulsion and vertical takeoff, but no passengers flew during the initial flights.
The opening stage will use helicopters and fixed-wing airplanes to study possible routes and collect information for future advanced-air-mobility operations. Under TxDOT’s proposal for the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, Joby also planned seven days of piloted flights in North Texas.
Proposed missions included service to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, a round trip to Arlington and flights between Alliance Airport and Toyota Motor North America’s headquarters in Plano. One test would have a Joby aircraft enter DFW’s controlled airspace and land at DFW Corporate Aviation.
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration began studying electric air taxis in North Texas aviation in 2018. Joby and NASA conducted a 2023 simulation examining whether the DFW terminal area could handle up to 50 electric air taxi operations per hour. The available report does not state the simulation’s results or provide a schedule for commercial passenger service.
