Electric aircraft developer in distress: probably no state guarantee for Lilium

The faltering aviation start-up Lilium is unlikely to receive a 50 million euro guarantee from the federal government. The FDP and Greens opposed the project in the budget committee last week, which was supported by Bavarian CSU Prime Minister Söder, among others. Lilium's financial situation is now precarious, as a loan of the same amount promised by the Munich State Chancellery has also fallen through.

Lilium founder Daniel Wiegand expressed his disappointment in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. According to Wiegand, the order books are full, and the company will soon be able to keep its head above water with advance payments from customers. Private investors had held out the prospect of further support for the aircraft manufacturer, but linked this to a positive decision from Berlin. The company is also working on a grant of 200 million euros from the French government, but this is linked to the construction of a production facility in the neighboring country.

Although the company's development and production site is currently located in Gauting, Bavaria, Lilium's legal headquarters are in the Netherlands and the company is listed on the US technology exchange NASDAQ. On October 17, Lilium therefore informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the lack of state guarantees in a brief mandatory notification.

Aiwanger blames traffic lights

Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs, Aiwanger, ranted against the Berlin coalition in a press release following the rejection: "You can't work together with the traffic light in a spirit of trust," he stated. Although there are certainly "pros and cons", it is "embarrassing" to now reject previously signaled support.

The German Startup Association had also campaigned for the guarantees. Last week – shortly before the decisive meeting of the budget committee. The industry organization published an appeal for support. According to the association, "over 600 well-known founders and investors have joined the initiative".

Supporters from the Lilium environment

Tech investor Philipp Klöckner doubts this claim. According to his analysis, which the Berliner published in his podcast"Doppelgänger", almost half of the supporters come from the Lilium environment. A random check by heise online also raises further doubts about the list: While there are indeed some well-known investors, many names and job titles suggest private investors at best. The startup association did not respond to a request for comment in the short term; we will update this if necessary. The almost 750 signatories to the appeal are offset by around 150 times as many opponents on the Campact platform who have spoken out against state guarantees for the company in the last six months.

Klöckner is also critical of the idea of bailing out Lilium with state guarantees: "Like France, the federal government is happy to support the establishment of production as soon as an approved aircraft is available. But I think it is wrong to use state money to support research into a technology that many experts and the entire market have doubts about," Klöckner told heise online.

Meanwhile, one of the signatories of the rescue appeal commented on the business network LinkedIn. Danijel Višević, a shareholder in the battery manufacturer of the air cab pioneer, sees a market failure in investments in "deep tech" start-ups. He compares Lilium to the car manufacturer Tesla, which repaid a million-euro loan from the US government early.

Lilium is developing an eVTOL, an "electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft" in Gauting. The Lilium Jet is primarily intended as an air cab and will therefore not be available to private individuals. The vertical take-off aircraft will carry up to six passengers, but is currently still at the testing stage. Like its competitor Volocopter, the aircraft does not have a license for passenger transport, although its aircraft was allowed to take off for freight transport at the Olympic Games in Paris.

There were already doubts about the guarantee plans in the summer, and a study also found that air cabs were not widely accepted.

(cku)