The Bavarian air taxi manufacturer Lilium cannot count on a financial injection from the federal government. The company from Gauting near Munich is reportedly at risk of bankruptcy. To support it, there was the prospect of a 100 million euro loan, half of which would have been guaranteed by the federal government and half by the Free State. While Bayern had already cleared the way for citizens in September, the financing now seems to have failed in Berlin.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had pushed for the guarantee to be cleared in recent days. This should have been done in the Bundestag’s budget committee. However, no approval was given there this week. For this, Christian Lindner’s (FDP) Ministry of Finance would have had to submit a guarantee application. According to information from our editorial team, this did not happen.
Frank Schäffler, FDP: “No apparent interest in funding”
Leading FDP parliamentarians had previously spoken out against the guarantee to Lilium: “I think help for Lilium is wrong,” said FDP housekeeper Frank Schäffler. “There is no apparent federal interest in promoting air taxis.” The risk for the federal government is far too high. “If Bavaria wants to accept this subsidy, then it should do so alone. There should be no speculation with federal tax money.” It is unlikely that the issue will be on the budget committee’s agenda. FDP leader Christian Lindner recently made it clear that the state is not good at identifying the right companies that are worth supporting.
The Lilium company has developed an air taxi that takes off vertically, is powered by electric motors and can travel as fast as an airplane. It should be able to take up to six passengers to their destination. But bringing air taxis onto the market is a tough business. The path to series production is long and expensive and requires the use of highly specialized experts.
Markus Söder, CSU: “Case of Bayern bashing”
People in Bavaria are not happy about the news from Berlin: If funding for the company fails in Berlin, “then it would be another case of Bavaria bashing,” said Bavaria Prime Minister Markus Söder, CSU. According to Söder, the question of Lilium funding has not yet been finally clarified. He referred to information from the Federal Chancellery.
Söder had strongly supported Lilium, and Klaus Holetschek, leader of the CSU parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament, is also convinced of the startup. “With Lilium we have the unique opportunity to create an innovative cluster with other companies in the Oberpfaffenhofen area and thus for Bavaria as a high-tech location,” he told our editorial team this week.
Will the French save Lilium?
If in the end the federal government does not take part in the guarantee, the question arises as to whether Bavaria will step into the breach alone. However, the condition for the approval of the Lilium loan by the Bavarian Budget Committee was that the federal government had to go along with it – only then would the 100 million euro loan come about. According to information from our editorial team, not all decision-makers in the Free State are unreservedly behind the aid.
“We have a challenging budget situation,” says state parliament member Bernhard Pohl (Free Voters). “You cannot reject many other applications for support and take significant risks elsewhere without having the federal government on your side,” says the deputy chairman of the Bavarian Budget Committee.
The fate of Lilium is not yet sealed: According to information from South German newspaper France has promised a government subsidy of 220 million euros if the startup relocates part of its production to France. However, this would not solve the short-term financial problems.
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