FAA Paves Way For eVTOLs, As Leader Lilium Faces Insolvency Amid GE Aerospace Deal

In the last few years, the interest in flying cars or air taxis has grown exponentially.

Also known as eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft), these aerial vehicles have garnered the attention of not just numerous startups, businesses and customers but also that of governments, especially that of the US.

In the last few days, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken big steps towards making the dream of plying flying vehicles in US airspace a reality for eVTOL startups such as Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Wisk Aero, Lilium and others.

On Tuesday, the federal aviation regulator published its final ruling on the “Integration of Powered-Lift", which outlined the requirements for pilot certification and operations, as well as other amendments related to rotorcraft and airplanes.

In a statement announcing the ruling, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, said, “The FAA will continue to prioritize the safety of our system as we work to seamlessly integrate innovative technology and operations. This final rule provides the necessary framework to allow powered lift aircraft to safely operate in our airspace.”

“Powered Lift” comes in as a new category of civil aircraft since helicopters were introduced in the 1940s. It spans air taxis, cargo delivery and other operations within urban and rural areas and is the first category to be introduced for almost 80 years.

The need for a dedicated category came as regulators noted that eVTOLs possess the qualities of both helicopters and airplanes, in the sense that they can take off and land vertically while also propelling forward as airplanes. As such, the new set of rules is tailored specially for such vehicles.

Speaking to TechCrunch, Greg Bowles, the Head of Government Affairs at Joby Aviation, said, “[The ruling] aligns with all the hopes that we had been designing for. So the way that we’ve designed the operating system, the cockpit we’ve designed, the way we’ve designed for energy reserves, all align with the FAA rule.”


However, this news comes as a bittersweet moment for Lilium, the German eVTOL company that has long been a big name in the industry.

At one point, Lilium found its worth skyrocketing to $3.3 billion. From that point, its shares have taken a nosedive, dropping 95% from what its stock market debut price was.

Now, Lilium has been having a bit of a tough time off late as it faces the bitter brink of bankruptcy. That is, if it doesn’t raise emergency funding.

As per reports, the company is in talks with the German federal government and the Bavarian state government to receive state support funding to keep operations flying for a year. As such, the company’s €50 million ($54 million) loan request was shot down by German lawmakers, while its request with Bavaria remains on.

“Lilium is to receive a fixed-rate loan of €100 million as a signal to our investors that Germany supports the entry into electric aviation. It’s not about saving a crisis-ridden company with grants,” mentioned Lilium’s CEO Klaus Roewe.

Amid all this, the company announced a partnership with GE Aerospace to improve eVTOL flight safety.

This will be done by combining the two companies’ flight data and analytics platforms to build scalable flight data management solutions that boost safety standards. Along with this, Lilium will deploy GE technology to all Lilium Jet operators.

Andrew Coleman, General Manager, GE Aerospace’s Software as a Service (SaaS) Group, said, “Together with Lilium, a leader in the eVTOL space, we’re bringing together OEM-level flight data monitoring and quality assurance capabilities of EMS with Lilium’s eVTOL jet-related analytics platform to establish a robust safety foundation for eVTOL industry that will help to accelerate commercial scale adoption of this exciting new technology.”

Do you think these moves will help Lilium stay afloat? Do you think other eVTOL companies need to heed Lilium’s circumstance as a warning?

Do you think the move by the FAA will help eVTOL companies scale quickly?

Let us know in the comments below!