With a new partnership inked, Fullerton Municipal Airport, the last small airport in Orange County, could be among the first in Southern California to host self-flying electric air taxis in the not-so-distant future.
“It’s like Uber in the sky, you know,” said airport manager Brendan O’Reilly. “If you think about aviation, it’s only been around for 120 years, and we’ve come an awful long way in those years.”
Discussions about introducing urban air mobility, or “air taxis,” to Fullerton began in 2024 between the city and Wisk Aero, an autonomous aviation company. Wisk — a Boeing subsidiary and developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft — recently announced an official partnership with the city.
An eVTOL is a small, battery-powered aircraft that flies like a plane, but takes off and lands vertically, similar to a helicopter. Wisk is developing versions that would be self-flying taxis.
“So think of, you know, being in Orange County and going to LAX to catch a flight in 15 minutes at any time of the day,” Emilien Marchand, director of ecosystem partnerships at Wisk, said. “So that’s what we’re trying to do and really be a complementary tool in the transportation toolbox of cities, of metropolitan planning organizations.”
While there’s no pilot onboard, the flights would be monitored from the company’s fleet operations center.
Wisk has previously collaborated with the city of Long Beach, where a test flight of the autonomous aircraft was done in 2023.
Fullerton City Manager Eric Levitt has called the agreement the city made with Wisk “a unique and exciting opportunity for the city to be involved in an emerging industry.”
The memorandum of understanding, approved by the City Council in July for a one-year term, is nonbinding and does not grant Wisk operational authority at the airport. Instead, it establishes a framework for collaboration between the two parties, including the exchange of technical information to evaluate the feasibility of creating a mini-airport — or vertiport — for air taxis.
The MOU does not mention any financial incentives or payments for the city.
“If you think about electric aviation, it’s really a new future — we’re on the cusp of a movement toward electric power, and it’s very cool,” O’Reilly said. “It’s exciting to be in my job right now because I’m trying to do everything I can for when these guys are ready to have them up there. I think it would be a great service, and the public would love it.”
He said plans are still in their infancy, with officials gathering information and discussing operational requirements to see if the aircraft would be compatible with Fullerton’s airport.
“We’re years away from really anything solid,” he said. “We’re just kind of laying the groundwork.”
O’Reilly added that local FAA offices are “well aware” these aircraft are coming and are updating regulations and creating a certification process. The FAA said doing so ensures “this new generation of aircraft maintains the high level of safety.”
In September, the FAA launched a new pilot program aimed at accelerating the deployment of eVTOL and advanced air mobility vehicles, including air taxis. The program would foster partnerships between private companies and local and state government agencies to develop regulations around the new generation of aircraft.
“These new technologies have the potential to transform aviation, including expanding connectivity to rural American communities, reducing road congestion in urban areas, and enhancing emergency services or medical transport. The action follows President Trump’s executive order to unleash American drone dominance,” the FAA said in a Sep. 12 statement.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy called it the “next great technological revolution in aviation.”
Jeff Ball, president and CEO of the Orange County Business Council, said it is good for Fullerton to get in on the ground floor of an emerging technology in air mobility.
“The Orange County Business Council continues to advocate for innovative technologies that drive our region’s economic competitiveness,” he said in a statement. “The partnership between Wisk and the city of Fullerton is a powerful example of the forward-thinking collaborations that will keep Orange County at the forefront of technology and transportation.”