Lilium continues to hope for a restart

Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe hopes that the electric aircraft manufacturer will have a chance for a new beginning with a self-administration insolvency procedure.

"receive the chance for a new beginning."

The board could then continue to run the company with around 1,000 employees under the supervision of an administrator and would have more time to attract new investors. 

In Search of Capital

Lilium has announced that it will file for insolvency due to impending inability to pay or over-indebtedness at the Weilheim district court in the coming days. The federal government had rejected a guarantee for half of a 100-million-euro loan from the KfW bank.

"We had already secured additional private capital on a provisional basis to complement the KfW loan," said Roewe.

Talks had progressed regarding a French government guarantee for a 219-million-euro loan to build a battery factory and an assembly line in the southwest of France. 

Shares Still Worth 20 Cents 

The start-up company has developed an electrically powered small aircraft over the past few years. After many test flights, the first manned flight was planned for the coming spring, with the first customer delivery scheduled for 2026. However, Lilium needs fresh capital for this. The company, led by former Airbus manager Roewe, has around 700 firm and pre-orders from the USA, UK, France, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. 

Customers and investors have already invested 1.5 billion euros in the company listed on the US Nasdaq stock exchange. The stock, which peaked at over $14 in 2021, was priced at around 20 cents on Friday.