TL;DR
The first federal permit for an electric air taxi to carry outsiders has arrived, and it is not for riders. On Oct. 21 the FAA gave Beta Technologies' Alia a certificate that lets the company fly prospective buyers, but not sell tickets. Six days later, an FAA official warned that the approval needed to fly paying passengers may be harder to win than approval of the aircraft itself. For people stuck in traffic who hoped to hop over it in a few years, that is the real news: the aircraft are flying, but the paperwork for a ride may be the longer wait. The warning comes from one unnamed official in a paywalled report and has not been confirmed.
Below the line, for paid subscribers: The full story: where it stands, how we got here and what's dated next; our Odds board on 6 milestones, starting with "A paying passenger rides an air taxi in a U.S. city by 2028"; our labeled speculation on what it adds up to; and every source.