Munich and Nuremberg airports are set to become the first hubs for Lilium’s plans to operate its Lilium Jet eVTOL aircraft in a regional air mobility network across the southern German state of Bavaria. The company today announced agreements in principle with both airports that mirror plans already announced for Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region and for Florida, with passenger services due to launch in 2024.
From these hubs, Lilium intends to provide flights for up to six passengers in each aircraft to multiple cities across the region. The all-electric Lilium Jet will have a range of up to around 155 miles and cruise at speeds of up to 175 mph.
Nuremberg and Munich are just over 100 miles apart, in the north and south of central Bavaria, respectively, and with a drive time between the two of at least two hours. The services could potentially connect other cities, including Wurzburg, Bayreuth, Augsburg, and Ingolstadt.
Early drawings show plans to establish dedicated vertiports on the landside of each airport. Lilium, which is headquartered near Munich, also plans to develop vertiports at locations such as Lake Nona, near Orlando International Airport in Florida, and the German airports of Cologne-Bonn and Dusseldorf.
Through its Air Mobility Initiative Bavaria, which is part of the wider High-Tech Agenda Plus program, the state is investing €100 million ($120 million) in research and development for urban air mobility services. Noted Bavarian state minister Florian Hermann: “eVTOL aircraft are a fascinating and promising addition to the mobility of the future and thus are triggering completely new planning and solution possibilities.”
The managements of Nuremberg and Munich airports both view the planned eVTOL flights as complementing existing connections between ground transportation and established airline services. “Since several transport corridors meet in Nuremberg, many ground-based transport systems are heavily congested,” commented Michael Hupe, managing director of Albrecht Durer Airport Nuremberg.
