DThe air taxi start-up Lilium is about to receive a major order from Saudi Arabia: Saudia, the desert state’s national airline, wants to order 100 electric aircraft. Lilium announced on Wednesday that the two companies had concluded a corresponding agreement at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. With the purchase of the Lilium jets, Saudia wants to introduce “a state-of-the-art service that will bring new electrical point-to-point connections for business class guests and seamless connections at the hubs”.
The technical concept of the new Lilium jet consists of an electric high-flyer with a range of 175 kilometers that can accommodate six people. Production is scheduled to start next year so that the first high-flyer can be delivered in 2025. Lilium recently hired a new board member, Klaus Roewe, who has worked at Airbus for more than 30 years.
So far, the young company has not generated any revenue, but has made all sorts of losses. The most recent half-yearly balance shows a minus of 123.7 million euros, a total of 841 million euros since the company was founded seven years ago. According to a Lilium spokesman, the Saudia order represents more than 20 percent of the current order backlog. Lilium currently has purchase intentions for 483 electric aircraft, which are to be converted into firm orders including down payments from next year.
The major order from Saudi Arabia is certainly good news for Lillium shareholders. After all, the young company, which was founded out of the Munich University, recently disappointed with delays in the development process, which further burdened the share price. Lilium has only been listed on the Nasdaq technology exchange for the past year. Since then, the stock has lost a good three quarters of its value. With the IPO, Lilium raised $584 million. The big investors include the technology fund Atomico as well as China’s internet giant Tencent.
