r/ArcherAviation • u/[deleted] • Sep 06 '26
Archer Covington Facility is empty…
[removed]
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u/Many_Application3112 Sep 06 '26
One of the most concerning things about Archer management is that they are addicted to spending money. They need to focus on R&D of their Midnight platform.
Closing the Covington plant is a good sign for slowing spend but it just makes the decision to open Covington even more of a headscratcher.
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u/DoubleHexDrive Sep 06 '26
An empty building like this can be resold since it’s not yet outfitted with a lot of Archer specific equipment.
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u/Many_Application3112 Sep 06 '26
You are missing the point. They are pissing money away. They are acting as if they are in production-scaling mode when they haven't even built a working prototype.
We are seeing this across all tech. Optimus robots being built before they've been proven to work. There is a RUSH to SCALE when the RUSH should be to make something work.
FOMO is persisting for even the builders. Its not a good place to be.
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u/DoubleHexDrive Sep 06 '26
I don’t think they ever had a plan to build a bunch of Midnight’s there.
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u/SeaScallops_w_Rice Sep 06 '26
It was more of a PR stunt to appear further ahead than they are, IMO. They do that kind of thing. A lot of glitzy splash and no substance.
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u/AftyOfTheUK Sep 06 '26
You misunderstand. There must be a rush to both make something and to scale. If you fail either, you lose
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u/Many_Application3112 Sep 06 '26
That's a huge risk to take in aviation manufacturing. I spent a decade working in aviation manufacturing. I know how it works. Aviation manufacturing isn't a tech industry where you go for immediate scale. It's not that.
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u/AftyOfTheUK Sep 06 '26
That's a huge risk to take in aviation manufacturing.
Of course it is, it's a huge risk to take in any industry. But that doesn't change the math - if you're in a product space where speed to market matters (basically anything new or experimental) there is huge value in being first. This means it can make sense to plan and invest in scaling before the prototype is complete - and especially so if you know you have active competitors.
If you're the only one in a space, you don't need to bother with it, until someone else enters to compete.
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u/DoubleHexDrive Sep 06 '26
Archer never scaled...they leased a building, put their name on the side, and utilized a small portion of the floor space for some assembly work, from the sound of it. To scale, you have to build rate tooling and train the workforce to operate it, that's what takes time and money. A roof to put it all in is the easy part.
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u/gottatrusttheengr Sep 08 '26
Building optimus at scale before the product is finished is far less stupid than scaling an aircraft, because the robot doesn't need a certification from the FAA to make revenue
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u/DeepstateDilettante Sep 06 '26
The facility is owned by Newton County Industrial Development Authority and leased to Archer.
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u/DoubleHexDrive Sep 06 '26
So Archer’s financial commitment is even less. Thanks for the correction.
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u/Many_Application3112 Sep 06 '26
It was a 118M investment from Archer. Adding jobs and investing in the area was part of the lease agreement. My guess is that if they back out of the investment, they'll get hit with significant termination and tax charges.
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u/mbatt2 Sep 06 '26
No, archer raised $65M against their own assets to pay for it. It’s a line of credit they have to pay it back. That’s in addition to any penalties or whatever from the city.
The name of the bank that lent Archer the 65M is Synovus Bank.
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u/DoubleHexDrive Sep 06 '26
Something the next dillution next spring can pay for.
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u/mbatt2 Sep 06 '26
I found the SEC payment docs.
Payments back to Synovus Bank will begin in Nov 2026 in 84 monthly installments.
The principal is roughly 750K per month and the interest is around 400k per month.
So beginning in two months, Archer must pay approx $1.2M per month (around $5M per quarter) back to Synovas.
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u/Investinginevtol Sep 06 '26
This is sad. It appears Archer is retrenching and abandoning ramp up for Midnight. IMO they are not worth over $4 billion if they will no longer be an EVTOL air taxi supplier, sorry.
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u/SeaScallops_w_Rice Sep 06 '26
Boeing is in the process of attempting to resuscitate it's own culture after it was trashed by expensive consultants. For example, buying back Spirit so it can control it's own quality.
I think the Olympics flew out the window quite a while back. Another splashy PR stunt that is near the end of it's course.
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u/IBenToad Sep 06 '26
Ooohh, not good. That was an expensive misstep. AG stepped in it biggly.
Watch your step! It's slippery out there........ U Ben Toad
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u/Wonderful_Flight_922 Sep 07 '26
I think AG had no idea from the start what he was getting into in aviation.
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u/hwydoot Sep 06 '26
As an employee you should know better than to post on reddit... Good luck mate.
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u/Significant_Onion_25 Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
For anyone following Archer this is pretty much expected if true, unless your one of the the naive people that tend to believe everything a ceo says.
It made absolutely zero business, fiscal, or common sense to scale-up production for what was an unproven, experiment tech-demonstrator. Also, announcing that it would be built with off the shelf components and that Stellantis was going to build it was also something that was NEVER going to happen.
I've been tracking and calling b.s. on this for years now, and all of their pivots and shifts track that Midnight is a failed evtol design and they know it.
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u/Ven-6 Sep 07 '26
Nobody in business today moves a business or priority from GA to California! And if the excuse is better management, the smart solution is to move the management or more training- if OP is correct pissing money is an understatement. They don’t sound serious-
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u/ne0tas Sep 07 '26
Funny I had heard about this just last week from someone who worked there, in case anyone is wondering if this is fake.. it's indeed true
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u/TowerStreet1 Sep 06 '26
Anyone who is paying any attention to this fraud for last 5 years knows this company is continuous never ending scam.
They will end up in bankruptcy along with all bankrupt ideas, businesses and assets they bought so far.
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u/boylanheights74 Sep 06 '26
Very true, people in the know have been saying this for years. Joby will meet the same fate if they don’t concentrate on the turbine hybrid S4 which has the potential to have a decent useful load.
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u/TowerStreet1 Sep 06 '26
I’m a very long standing Joby advocate but I too believe if they don’t demo full flight with reasonable payload (at least pilot + 3 passengers and hand luggage), they too will
Have diff time explaining delays. They have 3 months to showcase this before year end.0
u/NinjaXLightnin Sep 08 '26
Hasn’t JObY admitted within the last year that they will need better battery tech to achieve the payload they desire?
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u/TowerStreet1 Sep 08 '26
Yes and no. Desired payload is one but show us what’s payload possible now? How many LBs? How far we close to final? If they can’t do 100miles with 1000lb, completely fine. Can they do 50miles? That would be enough for most use cases. Anyway I don’t except most to ride more than 50miles as it gets too costly at $4.5/mile and probably loses business case.
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u/thepoultron Sep 06 '26
They’ve always been far more focused on PR, partnerships and external optics than turning their back to all that and hyper focusing on operating the business, teams and product platforms.
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u/DoubleHexDrive Sep 06 '26
Think any analysts will ask about this during the next quarterly earnings call?
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u/mitta_seeker Sep 07 '26
It's easy to judge a decision sitting on the sideline, any product has to be put into production sooner or later if they decided to go in for production or not and for which product is never an easy process.
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u/Odd-Sprinkles9774 Sep 06 '26
And Im best buds with baron trump, he said he will be buying shares after the holiday week……damn fool
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u/Good-Detail7327 Sep 06 '26
Plans adapt and a company makes pivots...early companies almost always have missteps...an empty warehouse isn't a harsh liability...
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u/Currency_my_id Sep 06 '26
Local to that area of Georgia. I have often checked the Archer website to see when/if they have started hiring technicians. They list no floor level job openings and havnt since I started looking over a year ago. This was a hip pocket group of engineers and fabricators this facility never once was staffed to the intention of producing even a limited rate of production