Aircraft manufacturer: Insolvency court allows Lilium to continue operating

The electric aircraft pioneer Lilium can continue its work for the time being. The Weilheim district court approved the application for insolvency proceedings under self-administration and appointed the lawyer Ivo-Meinert Willrodt as provisional administrator.

Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe said that after the restructuring with new investments, the company wanted to have the electric aircraft certified and put into operation. The management consultancy KPMG has been commissioned to search for buyers or investors – the first investor discussions are expected to begin shortly, the company announced. The US stock exchange Nasdaq suspended trading in Lilium shares and warrants from Wednesday. Two lawyers, Gerrit Hölzle and Thorsten Bieg, were newly appointed to the management team for the insolvency and restructuring proceedings.

The first two Lilium jets are in final assembly. The more than 1,000 employees worked towards the first manned flight. The company has orders, reservations, options and letters of intent for more than 780 Lilium jets from the United States, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The Greens in the traffic light coalition rejected a federal guarantee for half of a 100 million euro loan for Lilium in October. “We had already secured additional private capital under reservation to supplement the KfW loan,” Roewe complained at the time. Discussions about a guarantee from France for a loan of 219 million euros to build a battery factory and an assembly line in southwest France had progressed.

In recent years, the start-up company has developed an electrically powered small aircraft that takes off and lands vertically. The first manned flight was most recently planned for early 2025, and the first delivery to customers was planned for 2026. Customers and investors have already invested 1.5 billion euros in the company.