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Noise & planning · 5 min read

How loud is an air taxi? Noise, emissions and the city

Measured flyover data, community-response research and planning rules all point the same way: a quieter aircraft that still needs careful siting.

Noise & environment

VERTISTATION.TOKYO Editorial

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How loud is an air taxi? Noise, emissions and the city
Conceptual illustration

What the measurements show

Joby reported 45.2 dBA during a flyover at 500 metres altitude and 100 knots following NASA-assisted acoustic testing, and below 65 dBA at 100 metres from the flight path during planned takeoff and landing profiles. A controlled flyover comparison presented to the Vertical Flight Society found the same aircraft 10–19 dB(A) below three commercial helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft flown at similar speed and altitude and measured with the same equipment.

Every number carries conditions. NASA’s full-flight-envelope campaign used a 58-channel microphone array and 31 unique test conditions, and found wing-borne cruise the quietest phase while approaches were noisier than departures; hover measurements varied by several decibels within single runs. Prototype results describe one aircraft and specific test profiles—not a universal limit for every eVTOL or every future operation.

People respond to more than decibels

Noise is experienced as well as measured. NASA’s 2026 VANGARD study asked 359 participants in Los Angeles, New York City and Dallas–Fort Worth to rate 67 simulated air-taxi sounds; an early finding was that participants from noisier neighbourhoods initially reported greater annoyance, not less. NASA describes these as initial results, with further analysis under way.

Attitudes measured before deployment matter for planners too. EASA’s European societal-acceptance research found 38% of respondents naming noise and 38% naming environmental impacts among their concerns about air taxis. Neither study measures how residents of a particular Tokyo district would react to a specific vertiport; both suggest acceptance is earned operation by operation.

Electric is not automatically clean

A widely cited Nature Communications model found a single-pilot, 100-kilometre VTOL trip emitted roughly 35% less than a single-occupant combustion car but about 28% more than a battery-electric car, and only beat the electric car per passenger-kilometre when carrying three passengers plus a pilot. A 2025 manufacturing-inclusive assessment estimated around 0.24 kg of CO₂-equivalent per passenger-kilometre for a four-seat, 100-kilometre case—about twice a comparable road EV—falling to roughly 0.05 kg only under a cleaner-electricity scenario.

The practical reading: a climate claim depends on the local electricity mix, seat occupancy, empty repositioning flights and manufacturing assumptions—not on the word “electric” alone. Comparisons also need infrastructure and battery production inside the boundary, which fleet studies identify as significant contributors.

Siting is a planning question

The FAA’s updated vertiport design guidance added a downwash and outwash protection area alongside revised landing-area geometry—physical space beyond the touchdown pad itself. Washington State has published land-use compatibility guidance with compatibility zones addressing noise, downwash and safety. Opposition can also be formal: France’s Conseil d’État ruled in December 2024 on challenges brought by the city of Paris and aviation-noise associations against the authorization of a central vertiport at Austerlitz.

Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau published interim, non-binding vertiport design guidelines in December 2023, covering land-based, piloted operations under visual flight rules, and a 2025 interim report favours multiple small urban vertiports supported by larger suburban operating and charging bases—while naming residents’ understanding of safety and noise as a social-acceptance requirement. For a dense city like Tokyo, the lesson from these sources is that acoustics, land use and community engagement are as decisive as the design of the deck itself.

Sources & further reading

  1. Joby confirms low noise footprint following NASA testingJoby Aviation · 2022-05-10
  2. Flyover noise comparison between Joby aircraft and similar aircraftVertical Flight Society · 2022
  3. NASA investigates how people respond to air taxi noise (VANGARD)NASA · 2026-02-19
  4. Urban air mobility—10 key survey resultsEASA · 2021-05-19
  5. Role of flying cars in sustainable mobilityNature Communications · 2019-04-09
  6. Adopting electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for green transport transformationFundamental Research · 2025-04-11
  7. Engineering Brief 105A: Vertiport DesignFAA · 2024-12-27
  8. Décision n° 495960 on the Paris-Austerlitz vertiportConseil d'État · 2024-12-18
  9. バーティポート整備指針国土交通省 · 2023-12
  10. 空飛ぶクルマの離着陸場（バーティポート）のあり方―機能と分類―中間とりまとめ国土交通省 · 2025-07-29

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