The Munich start-up company has developed an electric jet and now needs a guarantee. The Greens in the traffic light coalition are blocking this. The consequences are open.
The electric aircraft pioneer Lilium should not receive any government support. A loan guarantee of 50 million euros from the federal government failed in the traffic light coalition due to resistance from the Greens. This means that a Bavarian promise of aid is no longer valid. It is completely unclear what consequences this will have for the Munich company with 1,100 employees and for the high-tech location. Lilium initially did not comment.
SPD householder Dennis Rohde said: “Germany cannot afford for future industrial jobs to disappear. That’s why we as the SPD would have liked to provide state support for this climate-neutral future technology. Unfortunately, there was no majority in the current coalition for this economic policy conviction .”
The start-up company has developed a fully electric, vertical take-off and landing air taxi. The first manned flight is scheduled to take place in early 2025, and the first machines are scheduled to 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.
Söder attacks the Greens and the billions in aid for the shipyard
“Old industries in the north, such as shipyards, are supported by the federal government with billions of dollars, but there is not a cent for future investments in the south. This is a blatantly wrong decision and further gross disadvantage for Bavaria,” criticized Söder. Four weeks ago, the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony supported the ailing Meyer cruise ship shipyard with guarantees of two billion euros and the purchase of company shares for 400 million euros.
Mutual blame
Green members of the Bundestag did not comment openly. From her group’s circles it was only said: “Due to many internal and external expert assessments and a difficult budget situation, we have doubts that the federal government should take the risk here. Mr. Söder is welcome to take more risks with Bavarian money, he always brags, how much he has of it.” The deputy Green party leader in the Bavarian state parliament Claudia Köhler said: “Our colleagues did not want to approve a high-risk investment for a luxury product in times of tight budgets. I think that is responsible.”
The FDP chairman in the budget committee, Aschaffenburg MP Karsten Klein, said that the chances of federal aid outweighed the FDP parliamentary group. “The failure is not a good signal for the company, the jobs and Bavaria as a high-tech location.” At the same time, he criticized the Bavarian state government: It must “finally introduce instruments that make it easier for start-ups in Bavaria and, above all, provide more planning security.”
The Bavarian DGB boss Bernhard Stiedl criticized: “If the traffic light government is serious about Germany as a technology location, it must assume its responsibility instead of carelessly putting sustainable jobs at risk.” The fact that the federal government “refuses to support us after having already promised it is a fatal signal.”
Offer from France?
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 are also demanding that the German launch also give the company start-up help, just as other countries do for their electric aviation pioneers: “The initial investments are simply too high to be financed purely by the private sector to become.” Former Airbus manager Roewe wrote that not a single aircraft program in the world has succeeded without government funding.
China and the USA support electric aviation
With improved batteries, the company estimates that 80 percent of all flights could be electric and therefore CO2-free by the 2040s. In China, electric aviation is one of the priorities in the current five-year plan, and the Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac and the battery manufacturer Catl are investing billions. According to Roewe, the USA is supporting Lilium’s competitor Joby with $600 million.
The Bavarian Science Minister Blume (CSU) criticized Germany for “chasing its own founders from the court.” The “green deindustrialization of Germany” continues.
Söder on X
Source: Stern
