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Archer Aviation’s July 12, 2024 agreement with Southwest Airlines could help identify where electric air taxis might make financial and operational sense. Southwest’s booking patterns, airport network, loyalty activity, and connection data could reveal routes where travelers value saving time. But the companies announced a memorandum of understanding—not a passenger-service launch, codeshare, aircraft purchase, or customer-data transfer. There is no public evidence that Southwest has agreed to give Archer identifiable passenger information.
What Archer and Southwest actually agreed to
The companies said they would develop operational concepts for electric air-taxi networks at California airports served by Southwest. The proposed use case is an Archer Midnight eVTOL aircraft providing airport access and other first- and last-mile transportation for Southwest customers.
Southwest’s announcement described a possible 10- to 20-minute air-taxi trip replacing an estimated 60- to 90-minute car journey in suitable markets. Those are company estimates, not independently verified average performance. Southwest also said it operated at 14 California airports at the time of the 2024 announcement.
The parties said they would work with employees and relevant unions, including the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, while developing the concept of operations. That language matters: the agreement concerns planning and exploration, not a fully specified commercial network.
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Read Southwest’s announcement and Archer’s announcement.
What has not been announced
The public materials do not establish:
- A commercial launch date or finalized route map.
- A ticket price or a guaranteed number of Midnight aircraft.
- A codeshare or through-ticketing arrangement.
- Rapid Rewards earning or redemption rules for Archer flights.
- A specific Southwest-linked vertiport construction plan.
- A customer-data license or transfer agreement.
- Priority access for Southwest customers.
- FAA approval for passenger operations.
The most accurate description is commercial and operational exploration. Calling the arrangement an operating air-taxi network would overstate what has been disclosed.
Why Southwest’s information could be valuable
Archer does not necessarily need names, email addresses, or individual loyalty accounts to learn whether a market is promising. Aggregated or de-identified information could answer several questions that are difficult to solve using aircraft technology alone.
1. Finding airport corridors with real demand
Booking and itinerary patterns could show which California airports generate substantial traffic, where travelers begin and end their journeys, and which airport-to-city corridors involve particularly long ground trips.
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Southwest’s network is primarily point-to-point, according to its 2024 annual report. That means an air-taxi service might be useful not only as a traditional hub feeder but also as a direct connection between an airport and a dense business district, resort area, or other destination.
See Southwest’s 2024 Form 10-K.
2. Understanding connection timing
Passenger counts alone are not enough. A viable airport transfer must fit around airline departure banks, security procedures, boarding cutoffs, weather, and the time required to reach a vertiport.
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Southwest could potentially help assess typical arrival and departure patterns, missed-connection risks, and the amount of schedule padding required. This is one reason itinerary data could be more valuable than a simple report showing how many people use an airport.
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3. Identifying customers who value time
Not every Southwest traveler would be a likely air-taxi customer. A short eVTOL flight may appeal most to business travelers, passengers facing congested ground routes, and customers willing to pay a substantial premium for convenience.
Booking choices, fare selections, loyalty engagement, ancillary purchases, and trip purpose could help estimate which segments might consider the service. Historical behavior would still be only a proxy: someone who values a faster trip may not accept the price or the experience of a small aircraft.
4. Testing the price
An air taxi must compete not only with driving time but also with rideshare, taxis, public transit, private cars, and simply accepting a longer journey. Commercial analysis could test whether customers would pay for:
- A separately purchased airport transfer.
- A bundled air-and-air-taxi itinerary.
- A premium cash fare.
- A points-based or mixed cash-and-points option.
There is no public indication that Archer and Southwest are currently running these analyses. They are plausible uses of an airline relationship, not announced features of this MOU.
5. Planning airport and vertiport operations
Southwest’s station and airport knowledge could help identify curb congestion, passenger flows, terminal constraints, nearby heliports or general-aviation facilities, and local infrastructure relationships. It could also highlight practical obstacles such as airport ownership, community concerns, noise restrictions, and limited access to suitable vertiport sites.
“Customer data” is not one thing
The phrase can describe very different information with very different privacy and commercial implications:
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| Data type | Possible use | Privacy burden |
|---|---|---|
| Public airport and traffic data | Estimate congestion, travel times, and airport activity | Relatively low |
| Aggregated booking flows | Identify demand by airport, time, and market | Lower than individual records |
| De-identified itinerary data | Study connections, transfer windows, and missed-connection patterns | Requires careful controls |
| Loyalty-member segments | Target offers or test points incentives | Higher; depends on consent and contracts |
| Identifiable passenger information | Personalized recommendations, marketing, or rebooking | Highest |
Southwest’s current privacy policy says it collects information from bookings, accounts, Rapid Rewards participation, surveys, customer support, and digital interactions. It also describes sharing with affiliates, vendors, service providers, and advertising or analytics providers. The policy does not identify Archer as a recipient of customer information.
Southwest’s 2025 Form 10-K says approximately 78% of 2025 passenger revenue originated through Southwest.com or its app, including SWABIZ bookings. That is a revenue-channel statistic, not a claim that 78% of customers use the app. The filing also describes Business TravelTrack, a data-sharing API that gives business-travel customers and third-party partners greater visibility into Southwest activity. These facts demonstrate digital and analytical capabilities; they do not prove Archer has access to those systems.
Read Southwest’s privacy policy and Southwest’s 2025 Form 10-K.
What a future integrated product might look like
A possible customer experience—not one Southwest and Archer have announced—could work like this:
- A traveler searches for a Southwest itinerary.
- The system identifies that the airport-to-destination transfer is unusually slow or unreliable.
- An Archer segment appears as an optional transfer.
- The traveler pays separately or buys a combined itinerary.
- The app provides directions to the vertiport and an arrival window.
- Archer and Southwest coordinate transfer timing and disruption information.
- A future loyalty program might offer points or another incentive.
- If one segment is delayed or canceled, the companies explain who handles refunds and reaccommodation.
The last point is especially important. A combined journey creates questions about missed connections, baggage, security, refunds, and responsibility. A fast aircraft leg is not a complete product unless the entire transfer is dependable.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The business case for Southwest
Southwest could benefit if an air-taxi service makes its itineraries more useful or accessible. Potential benefits include higher value per trip, a new ancillary revenue stream, stronger loyalty engagement, and better access to airports or destinations affected by severe ground congestion.
The airline could also use the service to differentiate itself from competitors. Southwest reported that it carried more than 137 million customers in 2023, a historical scale figure cited in the 2024 announcement. That broad base could provide a large audience for testing interest, although total Southwest traffic does not equal demand for air taxis in California.
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There is also a strategic risk. Southwest has historically emphasized value, while an eVTOL transfer may cost substantially more than a rideshare or public-transit option. If the service is expensive, unreliable, difficult to find, or confusing to use, it could create customer frustration rather than loyalty.
What the data cannot solve
Good demand analysis can select promising corridors, but it cannot remove the central risks of an emerging aviation service.
- Certification: Archer’s aircraft and operating plans depend on regulatory approvals and other uncertainties. Archer’s 2025 Form 10-K describes these risks.
- Vertiports: A route is not viable without safe, accessible takeoff and landing locations.
- Weather: Wind, low visibility, and storms could reduce reliability or require ground alternatives.
- Noise and community acceptance: Suitable locations may face local opposition or operating limits.
- Labor: Southwest specifically referred to collaboration with employees and unions, so workforce arrangements should not be treated as settled.
- Baggage and security: Reclaiming bags or repeating security procedures could erase much of the time savings.
- Fleet economics: A route needs enough frequency and utilization to support aircraft, pilots, maintenance, reserves, and vertiport costs.
- Customer behavior: Survey interest or historical travel volume does not prove that customers will pay the required fare.
Other potential data and distribution partners
Southwest is not the only possible source of useful information. Airport operators can provide passenger flows, curb constraints, and infrastructure details. Rideshare and ground-transportation companies may offer insight into first- and last-mile demand. Travel-booking platforms can provide search and conversion signals, while opt-in surveys and pilot bookings may offer more relevant willingness-to-pay evidence than historical airline records.
Archer has also announced separate planned air-taxi networks involving United Airlines in New York and partners in Miami. Those announcements are distinct from the Southwest MOU and should not be treated as evidence that a Southwest network is operating.
See Archer’s New York announcement and its Miami announcement.
How to judge whether the partnership is progressing
The most meaningful future evidence would be specific rather than promotional:
- A named airport or vertiport site.
- A defined route or pilot program.
- Regulatory and certification milestones.
- A disclosed booking, loyalty, or distribution arrangement.
- Clear pricing and customer eligibility.
- Rules for baggage, missed connections, refunds, and disruptions.
- Evidence of regular, reliable passenger operations.
Until those details emerge, the partnership’s main value is its potential to combine Archer’s aircraft plans with Southwest’s network knowledge and customer distribution. The data may help decide where to try an air-taxi service, but it cannot by itself make the service affordable, certified, or reliable.
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