Air taxi maker Lilium is out of money and will cease operations

Two years before German air taxi manufacturer Lilium promised to deliver its first two aircraft to customers, the air taxi pioneer has run out of money and will imminently stop making them. In a filing to the US SEC, Lilium says it cannot acquire the funding to continue operations in its subsidiaries (Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH), and is going into insolvency. We've been covering the company continually since 2017, when it successfully took its first flight in Germany.

Lilium had previously confirmed it had begun assembling its first two all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in Germany, while working towards certification from the EASA and FAA, but its first customer deliveries weren't slated until 2026. The FAA had just finalized its rules for eVTOL operation requirements this week.

Saudi Arabia had ordered up to 100 Lilium Jets and another four units were being sold to UK-based Volare Aviation. Lilium also worked with an aircraft brokerage firm in Texas last year to try and make its $10 million aircraft the first-ever air taxi sold in the US.

But Lilium apparently could not secure enough funding in the long run, and says it failed to get a 50 million Euro loan guaranteed by the State of Bavaria. The company also went public in the US in 2021 via reverse merging with a SPAC.

Now, Lilium faces the reality of losing control of its air taxi subsidiaries, although it's always possible someone can swoop in and buy them before they're too late to save. Air taxi firm Joby just got a cool $500 million investment from Toyota and got its Part 135 air carrier certification from the FAA in 2022. Meanwhile, Archer just got the certification this year.