Munich-based aviation company Lilium has announced that the Stuttgart Airport will become a hub for a proposed regional air mobility network in southern Germany using its seven-seat eVTOL Lilium Jet.
Stuttgart and Lilium still need to finalize the agreement’s commercial terms, but once they do, Stuttgart will join the southern German network, which already consists of the Munich and Nuremberg airports, as previously announced.
“I am thrilled that my home of Baden-Württemberg is joining the southern German Lilium operating network,” said Daniel Wiegand, CEO of Lilium. “Fully electric and ultra-quiet Lilium Jets will connect passengers from Stuttgart, Munich and Nuremberg more closely with neighboring cities and regions.”
The German air taxi developer will dedicate part of its planned production to the southern German network. At launch, the six-passenger Lilium Jet is projected to fly with zero operating emissions at a maximum range of 250 kilometers (155 miles) and a cruise speed of 280 km/h (174 mph).
The Lilium Jet is currently undergoing concurrent type certification processes with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), aiming for its first passenger services to launch in 2024. Lilium claims ticket prices will be comparable to conventional transportation methods in the medium term.
“We want people in our region to get to their destinations in the best possible way and to have a wide choice of modes of transport,” said Dr. Arina Freitag, managing director of the Stuttgart Airport. “The regional high-speed connections with small electric aircraft, such as those planned by Lilium, are a very promising addition to the Stuttgart location.”
In addition to this project, Lilium has planned western German hubs with Cologne Bonn and Düsseldorf airports, and is collaborating with Ferrovial on a network of vertiports in Florida, with the first passenger flights expected to start there in 2024.
Lilium has also announced a planned strategic alliance with leading Brazilian airline Azul to build an eVTOL network in Brazil, expected to start operations in 2025.
