The Bavarian air taxi pioneer Lilium is to receive state aid of 100 million euros. The Bavarian cabinet has decided to grant the company from Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich a liability assumption via a loan of 50 million euros. The prerequisite is that the federal government participates in the same way, said Bavaria’s State Chancellery Chief Florian Herrmann after a cabinet meeting in Munich.
The Federal Ministry of Transport welcomed the decision in Bavaria and announced that it would take the necessary steps and examine support with the Federal Ministry of Finance. The Bundestag’s Budget Committee would have to decide on a state guarantee. “We want to keep this key technology in German hands and prevent it from moving abroad.”
There has been a dispute for years about the funding of air taxi manufacturers in Bavaria. Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) in particular has repeatedly opposed state funding for the companies Volocopter and Lilium. In the case of Volocopter, the discussion about state funding was negative, and the decision on Lilium was up in the air for months.
The vote for state support for Lilium was now an “industrial policy decision by the Prime Minister and the entire cabinet,” said Herrmann. Lilium had recently publicly flirted with a sale to foreign investors and a relocation of its site after a decision on state aid had not been made. Flying taxis are already being produced in China, for example. Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger is also a member of the cabinet.
In the future, vertical take-off flying taxis will make flights of up to a few hundred kilometers possible. This could, for example, take business travelers directly from the airport to their destination. An alternative to ICE routes is also being discussed. The prototype of the Lilium jet has seven seats and is electrically powered. Orders have already been received from various countries. The company currently employs around 1,000 people.
