Archer beats on revenue but loss widens to $274.6M as FAA clears LA flights
Archer Aviation reported third-quarter revenue of $5.1 million, beating the $3.57 million analysts expected, but its net loss widened to $274.6 million. Shares fell about 5% overnight — even as the FAA cleared its Midnight aircraft for piloted flights in Los Angeles and the Boeing deal nears its close.
The News
Archer Aviation reported third-quarter 2026 results after the market closed on Monday, November 9. Revenue was $5.1 million, against the $3.57 million analysts expected, driven by its first engine deliveries to defence company Anduril for the Omen platform. But the net loss widened to $274.6 million, or $0.35 a share, against $0.34 expected, and the adjusted EBITDA loss — the operating loss before interest, tax and some non-cash costs — was $178.5 million, at the favourable end of the $170–200 million range Archer had guided. The company ended the quarter with $1.4 billion in liquidity — $1,353.6 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, plus $18.4 million of restricted cash. Shares fell about 5% in overnight trading.
The operational news is bigger than the print. The Federal Aviation Administration granted Midnight a Market Survey Special Airworthiness Certificate, unlocking piloted operations in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, ahead of carrying passengers under the US Department of Transportation's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program and the LA28 Olympic Games. Midnight has arrived at Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles, Archer said on its earnings call. An eVTOL is an electric aircraft that takes off and lands vertically, like a helicopter, but is designed to be quieter and cheaper to run — an air taxi for short city hops.
The acquisition of Boeing's Wisk, Insitu and SkyGrid businesses is nearing close. Insitu alone adds more than $200 million in annual revenue across 35 countries, and Boeing becomes Archer's largest shareholder and a strategic partner on the deal's completion. Archer also began testing the turboshaft engine for its Halo/Thunder hybrid VTOL with Anduril — full-scale flight testing is on track for 2027 — and signed a multi-year Formula 1 partnership. For the fourth quarter, Archer guided revenue of $5–6 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $185–205 million.
Revenue beat, loss widened, shares fell — but the FAA certificate and the Boeing deal are the news that will decide Archer's next year.
Why It Matters
This matters because Archer is at the point where an air-taxi company has to stop being a promise and start being a business. The FAA certificate is the first permission to fly Midnight with a pilot on board in a major American city — a step toward carrying passengers, not permission to carry them yet — and Los Angeles is not a test field: it is the market where Archer plans to run a service before the 2028 Olympics. If piloted flights start in the coming weeks as planned, Archer moves from building aircraft to operating them, which is the step every eVTOL company has to prove it can take.
It matters for investors, too, because the deal with Boeing changes what Archer is. Insitu's $200 million-plus of annual revenue from drone systems sold in 35 countries is real, paying business — the kind of revenue that does not depend on a regulator or an Olympic deadline. With Boeing as its largest shareholder and strategic partner, Archer gains a backer that can open doors in defence and aviation that a startup cannot open alone. The question the market is asking overnight is whether that is enough to justify the burn rate while the air-taxi business is still pre-revenue in any meaningful sense.
Analyst's Take
Our call is Mixed. The numbers point in two directions at once. Revenue beat expectations by a wide margin, the adjusted loss came in at the good end of guidance, and the balance sheet is strong — $1.4 billion in liquidity is real runway. But a $274.6 million quarterly loss on $5.1 million of revenue is still a company losing roughly $54 for every $1 of revenue it brings in, and the fourth-quarter guide — another $185–205 million of adjusted losses — says that gap is not closing soon. The overnight 5% fall is the market doing that maths.
What to watch: whether piloted flights in Los Angeles actually start in the coming weeks, and when the Boeing deal closes — that is the moment Insitu's $200 million-plus of annual revenue lands and Boeing becomes the largest shareholder. If the close slips, Archer stays a cash-burning startup with a good story. If it lands, the company has a defence business, a strategic partner and a path to carrying passengers before the LA28 Olympics. The FAA certificate is the milestone investors have waited years for; the loss is the reminder that milestones do not pay for themselves.
Are you bullish or bearish on this story?
By The Numbers
FAQ
What is an eVTOL, in plain terms?
An eVTOL is an electric aircraft that takes off and lands vertically, like a helicopter, but runs on electric motors and is designed to be quieter and cheaper to operate. Archer's Midnight is built to carry passengers on short hops across a city — an air taxi.
What did the FAA actually clear Archer to do?
The FAA granted Midnight a Market Survey Special Airworthiness Certificate. In plain terms, that is a permit letting Archer fly the aircraft with a pilot on board in Los Angeles in the coming weeks — a step toward carrying paying passengers under the US transport department's eVTOL pilot programme and ahead of the LA28 Olympic Games.
Why did the shares fall if revenue beat expectations?
Because the loss is still vastly larger than the revenue. Archer lost $274.6 million in the quarter, or $0.35 a share, against $0.34 expected, and it is still spending heavily to build aircraft and certify them. A revenue beat on a small base does not yet pay the bills.
What is the Boeing deal, and why does it matter?
Archer is acquiring Boeing's Wisk, Insitu and SkyGrid businesses. Insitu alone brings in more than $200 million of annual revenue across 35 countries, and on close Boeing becomes Archer's largest shareholder and a strategic partner. It turns a startup into a company with a real defence business attached.
What is Archer guiding for the fourth quarter?
Revenue of $5–6 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $185–205 million. Adjusted EBITDA is a company's operating loss before interest, tax and some non-cash costs — a common way startups show how much cash their core business is burning.
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Source: BusinessWire