Marina Council/Airport Commission approves Joby ground lease agreement
MARINA – The Marina City Council/Airport Commission has paved the way for Joby Aviation to build an elevated vertiport structure at the Marina Municipal Airport for flight testing and demonstrations of its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
The Council is also the Airport Commission and adopted a resolution this week approving a ground lease agreement with Joby for a 14,495-square-foot portion of the developed east tarmac for a period of four years with an option to extend for an additional four. Joby proposes the construction of a 2,025-square-foot prefabricated vertiport structure to be assembled on the leased premises. The proposed structure will have aeronautical uses in connection with Joby Aviation flight testing, aircraft certification and demonstrations. Joby Aero, Inc. has submitted a site and architectural design review application for a 2,025-square-foot elevated vertiport to the Marina planning division.
Joby is developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service and has been doing business at the Marina Municipal Airport since August 2018, where it has designed and is producing its electric vertical take off and landing aircraft.
"Our consultant, Coffman and Associates, just completed a full categorical exclusion (CATEX) level of NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act ) review of the project, which is the environmental review that establishes that the project does not individually or cumulatively have a significant impact on the environment," explained Marina City Manager Layne Long. "The airspace study airport and land use plan amendments have already been approved, so the CATEX is the final outstanding item. This CATEX will be submitted to the FAA regional office for review which we expect will take at least a month."
Joby is in the final stages of certifying its aircraft for commercial operations and its Marina facility continues to play a major role in accomplishing that milestone.
"Once we have FAA approval, we'll issue Joby a notice to proceed with construction. The elevated landing deck will be prefabricated and installed in place," said Long. "We expect installation of the deck to take no more than a month. Once in place, Joby can begin using it immediately for their flight testing and certification."
Long added that the city estimates that in July or August, Joby Aviation will start using the elevated deck for landing operations.
On Thursday, Reuben Brothers announced an alliance with Joby Aviation to establish an air taxi vertiport at Park Elm Residences at Century Plaza, South Tower in Century City, Los Angeles. The vertiport will utilize the building’s existing helipad to accommodate operations and charging for Joby’s all-electric, vertical take-off and landing aircraft, which is both quiet and has zero operating emissions.
In addition to the vertiport in Century City, Joby plans to build a dedicated passenger lounge, drawing on its experience operating Blade lounges around the world. Blade, a division of Joby, and the leading urban air mobility company in the world, currently operates nine passenger lounges in the New York area and across the South of France. This newly planned lounge will be Joby’s first in a residential building.
In March, Joby Aviation was selected in the White House-backed Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program, started flight testing of its first FAA-conforming aircraft for Type Inspection Authorization and took a high-profile demonstration flight across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Also last month, Joby announced it had begun flight testing its first FAA-conforming aircraft for Type Inspection Authorization, a major step on the path to type certification. Initial testing by Joby pilots will pave the way for FAA pilots to visit Joby's Marina facility later this year to conduct the rigorous TIA testing required to validate the aircraft for commercial service.
The aircraft is the first of a fleet currently in production to support TIA testing, and has been assembled using an airframe and components built to FAA Designated Engineering Representative-approved designs and signed off by FAA Designated Airworthiness Representatives, as specified in Joby's FAA-approved test plans.
Earlier this month, Joby announced its partnership with Air Space Intelligence, a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense software company, to accelerate the integration of advanced air mobility into the U.S. national airspace system with the aim of enabling Joby’s scaled electric flight operations.
In July 2025, Joby began full operation of its expanded Marina site with a 220,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at the Marina Municipal Airport, enabling it to boost production up to 24 aircraft per year, and bringing its total occupancy at the municipal airport to 435,500 square feet.
The site also provides key capabilities, including Joby's initial FAA production certification, conforming ground and flight testing components, pilot training simulators and aircraft maintenance.
Joby has also confirmed the start of propeller blade production in Ohio. Additionally, Joby recently acquired a new 700,000 square-foot facility in Dayton, Ohio to support its plans to double production to four aircraft per month in 2027. Over time, Joby's Dayton facilities are expected to be capable of supporting the delivery of up to 500 aircraft per year.
The Marina facility is one of three in California with others at Santa Cruz - where the company is headquartered - and San Carlos, which supports powertrain and electronics. Joby Aviation also has a facility in Munich where it focuses on roles such as process engineering, manufacturing engineering, quality inspection and computer numerical control operations.
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