In order to support the development of air taxis, Lilium sought government aid, but this was not granted. The company is now filing for bankruptcy for two subsidiaries.
After efforts to obtain state aid failed, air taxi developer Lilium says it is facing bankruptcy. The company, which has around 1,100 employees and is based in Munich, will file for self-administration insolvency for its two most important operating subsidiaries, Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH. The listed holding company announced this on Thursday in a mandatory notification to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The application will be submitted to the Weilheim district court in the next few days, said a spokesman. The company could no longer finance ongoing operations and was threatened with insolvency.
A week ago, the Bundestag’s budget committee was unable to agree to a guarantee of 50 million euros for a KfW loan to Lilium. Lilium now explained that the agreements with the Free State of Bavaria, which also wanted to guarantee 50 million euros, also failed. Read more about this here.
Video | Air taxi developer Lilium does not receive any government aid
The start-up company has developed a fully electric, vertical take-off and landing air taxi. The first manned flight should take place in early 2025, and the first machines should be delivered to customers in 2026. But that costs a lot of money: almost 200 million euros were spent in the first half of 2024 alone. Customers and investors have already invested 1.5 billion euros in the company, which is listed on the US stock exchange Nasdaq.
Lilium employs around 500 aeronautical engineers and already has customers with over 700 firm and pre-orders for its electric air taxis in the USA, Great Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and many other countries. A company spokesman said: “France has promised us significant funding if we open a second location in southwest France.”
However, according to Lilium boss Klaus Roewe, the investors demanded that the German state also give the company start-up help, just as other states do for their electric aviation pioneers: “The initial investments are simply too high to be financed purely by the private sector become.” Former Airbus manager Roewe wrote that not a single aircraft program in the world has succeeded without government funding.
In Germany, in addition to Lilium, the Volocopter company also builds electric air taxis. Volocopter wanted to use the Olympic Games in Paris this summer to showcase the innovative form of transportation. Ultimately, the company did not receive approval. The goal now is to start by the end of 2024.