Archer's first downtown Los Angeles port for its eVTOL aircraft will open at AEG's L.A. Live prior to the 2028 Olympics.Archer AviationArcher Aviation, which wants to be a dominant provider of short flights on electric copters in dense, urban areas, is partnering with sports and entertainment company AEG to set up a “vertiport” in downtown Los Angeles to provide an additional transportation option for the 2028 Olympic Games. The facility for takeoffs and landings of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft will likely sit atop a parking garage at L.A. Live, AEG’s 4 million-square-foot complex next to Crypto.com Arena, where the NBA’s Lakers and NHL’s Kings play, and the Los Angeles Convention Center. An exact opening date isn’t set, but it will be before July 2028 when the games start, Archer CEO and cofounder Adam Goldstein told Forbes. “One of our big goals has been to find a point in time that everybody could work toward. The LA 2028 Olympics is a good way to get everybody motivated to do this,” Goldstein said. “That’s from the regulators to certify the aircraft, from infrastructure partners to have dates to get things built, from power companies to have all the charging infrastructure put in place, all that stuff.”The L.A. Live facility expands Archer’s future network of eVTOL depots to cover much of Los Angeles, including previously announced ports near SoFi Stadium, home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers, the University of Southern California and Hollywood Burbank Airport. Its electric Midnight eVTOL, powered by a 142-kilowatt-hour battery (the equivalent of two Tesla packs), carries four passengers up to 100 miles per flight and travels as fast as 150 miles per hour. Los Angeles will be the first city to get Archer’s service, but it’s planning to expand to New York and other major urban areas in the years to come. A combination of steep development costs and a lengthy certification process by the Federal Aviation Administration over the past decade led to major consolidation in the eVTOL space. Where once there were numerous players, now Archer and Joby Aviation remain the two dominant companies. Earlier this month, Archer said it was acquiring autonomous eVTOL developer Wisk Aero, Skygrid, an air traffic management software company and Insitu, which makes unmanned, defense-oriented surveillance aircraft from Boeing. In exchange, the aerospace giant took a 20% stake in Archer. Unlike short-hop helicopter rides, such as those offered at New York-area airports that can cost $200 or more, Archer’s goal is to sell rides at a price that’s comparable to Uber or Lyft, Goldstein said. It will be scaling up production of its Midnight eVTOL model at a new factory in Georgia, with capacity to produce 650 units a year, though the Los Angeles service will likely begin with a couple dozen units. We're kind of two years out, so we’ve got to get moving on this,” he said. “There's not going to be a hundred aircraft in the air in year one. We'll start with tens, something like that, and then grow it over time.” More From ForbesForbesWisk, NASA, Electra, BETA Make Major Advanced Air Mobility MovesBy Ed GarstenForbesEVTOL Company Archer Aviation Makes Two Big Middle East MovesBy Ed GarstenForbesArcher To Go Public In Reverse Merger As United Airlines Places Order For Its Electric Air Taxis To Shuttle Passengers To AirportBy Jeremy Bogaisky