Defining the Lilium Jet’s Path Forward

Lilium, the Munich-based, German aerospace concern, announced it has received U.S. Federal Aviation Administration G-1 Certification Basis requisite type-certificate validation of its Lilium Jet.

The FAA’s issuance of G-1 certification vis-à-vis Lilium’s eVTOL comes some three-years after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)—Lilium’s primary airworthiness authority—issued analogous provisions.

For purpose of hastening global operations of such, Lilium is pursuing concurrent FAA/EASA certification of its Lilium Jet by dint of the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement formerly entered into by the two agencies. Lilium is one of a small number of eVTOL makers seeking dual certification in the E.U. and the U.S. Moreover, the company is the only such concern holding both an EASA and FAA certification basis for a powered-lift eVTOL aircraft.  

Lilium’s personnel—executives, administrators, engineers, and fabricators alike—have diligently plied their respective expertise and collective energies to the business of ensuring the company’s design, manufacturing, and business conventions conform to the rigorous safety standards and certification procedures promulgated by the world’s civil aviation authorities.

Lilium chief technology officer Alastair McIntosh stated: “We are the first powered lift eVTOL pioneer in our industry holding a Certification Basis from EASA and the FAA. This is a major step towards our goal of achieving early certification of our aircraft in key markets to support a worldwide entry into service. We are grateful to have found great partners on both sides of the pond to electrify the skies. As per FAA practice, there will now be a collaborative process where Lilium and EASA provide feedback to the FAA before the G-1 is issued for public consultation. We look forward to continued collaboration with the FAA and EASA.”

Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe added: “Receiving the FAA G-1 demonstrates the Lilium Jet’s path to global acceptance by aerospace regulators and the expected start of global operations in late 2025 for the revolutionary Lilium Jet.”

Broadly, the Lilium Jet is an inchoate seven-seat eVTOL, the lift scheme of which features no fewer than 36 articulating, ducted, electric, vectored-thrust motors installed in the aircraft’s aft wing and forward canard. Lilium’s rationale for the Jet moniker derives of the vessel’s rotors being encased in nacelles. In point of fact, the Lilium Jet’s thrust architecture comprises ducted fans; the machine is not—as evinced by its advertised 161-knot maximum speed and 135-nautical-mile single-charge range—a true jet aircraft.

Nevertheless, Lilium’s books presently bulge with orders for 745 Lilium Jets bound for U.S., European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and South American customers.

FMI: www.lilium.com