Fresh investments and global interest in the advanced air mobility sector is fast making the launch of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles a reality, according to Daniel Wiegand, Lilium’s co-founder and CEO.

Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, he said: “The whole eVTOL industry has exponentially picked up interest and therefore investment and now it’s becoming absolutely real.

“And we can see this here at the trade show, this is why we are here, because now we are moving from the engineering, innovation and design phase into actually industrialising these aeroplanes.

“The interest in electric aviation in general has skyrocketed if you compare it to three or four years ago.”

Sustainability shift

Wiegand said that there had been a societal shift prioritising sustainability which was helping to drive change.

“We do see people moving towards sustainability much more than a couple of years ago. It needs even more than that,” he commented.

“But I believe the regulators, especially here in Europe, have laid a very good foundation so we can actually bring these aircraft to the market and make it a reality.

“And we have to keep in mind, it doesn’t just need an aircraft certification. It needs pilot licences. It needs clarity on infrastructure on how we handle the operations.

“This is where we’re potentially making the biggest progress right now.”

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