Lilium to Facilitate eVTOL Services in China

Lilium, the Munich-based, German aerospace concern announced that it had entered into an agreement with Heli-Eastern (formally, Shenzhen Eastern General Aviation Co., Ltd), a major low-altitude general-aviation carrier and helicopter service provider operating in China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay region.

In addition to formalizing Heli-Eastern’s intention to order one-hundred Lilium Jets, subject agreement occasions the formation of a Lilium-Heli-Eastern partnership by which the two entities will work to further Chinese Urban Air Mobility (UAM) by identifying potential sites and recruiting Sino-domestic partners for the construction and operation of vertiports and related ground infrastructure from which Lilium’s and similar Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft will operate in the near-future.

Upon type-certification thereof, Heli-Eastern will operate the Lilium Jet, providing crewing and maintenance services throughout the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and Greater Bay areas.

Announcement of the Lilium-Heli-Eastern deal followed news of the German aviation concern having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China’s Shenzhen municipality for the opening of a Lilium regional headquarters in the large-port megacity’s Bao’an district. The installation and its staff will represent Lilium in China and facilitate the sales, service, and support of Lilium aircraft across the Asia-Pacific region.

Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe stated: “We are excited about Lilium’s expansion into China with such well-established local partners like Heli-Eastern. We see significant potential for Lilium’s eVTOL network in the Greater Bay Area, both to reach this important premium market, as well as to offer the sustainable, time-saving benefits of the Lilium Jet to as many people as possible.”

Heli-Eastern chairman Zhao Qi remarked: “By partnering with Lilium, we are bringing the future of sustainable air mobility to China. With Lilium’s premium cabin design and innovative electric jet technology, our customers can travel throughout the Greater Bay Area and beyond quickly and sustainably.”

Lilium’s books presently bulge with orders from U.S., European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and South American customers collectively on the hook for 745 Lilium Jets.  

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

FMI: www.lilium.com