Beleaguered former employees of collapsed electric air taxi developer Lilium have received an overdue glimmer of good news after the German authorities agreed they were eligible to receive a previously withheld unemployment benefit.
In addition, staff were finally given access to the firm’s premises at Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich to retrieve their personal possessions, finding the offices and hangars almost exactly as they had left them when Lilium shut its doors three months earlier.
Alongside the abandoned desks and office equipment, the site at Oberpfaffenhofen still houses the two half-finished prototypes of the Lilium Jet, MSN1 and 2, images provided to FlightGlobal reveal.
But the workforce will remain tied to its former employer for several more months yet, with contract terminations triggering a three-month notice period only recently sent out.
In some cases that will see staff not officially let go until August – almost six months since Lilium closed down – leaving them in employment limbo.
Their position has been complicated by the company’s recent history. Faced with a cash shortfall, listed company Lilium NV placed its two main operating subsidiaries – Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH – into self-administered insolvency last autumn while it sought a buyer.
A last-ditch sale of the pair’s business and assets was agreed at the end of December to an investor consortium called Mobile Uplift Corporation, which swiftly changed its name to Lilium Aerospace. Operations resumed on 7 January when the acquisition came into effect.
As part of the purchase, staff were transferred to the new entity unless they objected, but the companies’ assets were held back pending full payment of the purchase price.
However, promised funding for the consortium never materialised, leaving the workforce unpaid and forcing Lilium Aerospace to follow its predecessors and apply for insolvency on 21 February. Staff had already been sent home by that point.
In such cases, the German state pays Insolvenzgeld, settling the outstanding wages due to workers made redundant because of a corporate failure. It is capped at €7,500 ($8,580) per month and covers up to three months’ wages.
But the German employment office – or Bundesagentur fur Arbeit (BfU) – had previously refused to grant Lilium Aerospace employees Insolvenzgeld on the grounds that the business was never solvent to begin with.
That position now appears to have changed. In a message to staff, Lilium Aerospace says: “Following in-depth discussions with the [BfU], the agency has re-evaluated its previous decision regarding the granting of insolvency wage.
“As a result, employees who have submitted an application for insolvency wage will, in principle, receive these payments for the period from 7 January to 31 March 2025.”
Receipt of the missing wages will offer some relief to staff who were last paid in December, but for many it will come as too little too late, particularly those hit with substantial bills from private insurance providers – half of which is supposed be paid by the employer.
“What are we supposed to pay with – pocket fluff?”, says one former employee facing an unexpected €2,000 bill. “I’m getting [unemployment benefit] but this would wipe me out for another month.”
Meanwhile, staff on 6 and 7 June had the opportunity to return to their now-deserted offices to collect personal effects and return IT equipment.
“The site itself is very eerie, it’s exactly the same as when we left it on the Friday we were all sent home,” says one former employee.
“Nothing seems to have happened with anything, which is very strange. It’s such a waste, not just of the company and the talent that had been assembled, but all of the research and development that went on and the physical hardware that was made.”
Although the two Lilium Jet prototypes remain on site, the location of other assets is less clear. A scaled prototype – known as Phoenix – is thought to still be in southern Spain at the ATLAS test centre near Jaen where flight trials were being carried out. The whereabouts of a Lilium Jet mock-up, last seen at the NBAA-BACE show in Las Vegas in October, is unknown, however.
As the acquisition was not completed, all the assets – including the Lilium Jet prototypes and intellectual property – remain with Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH and in theory could be sold as part of the insolvency.
Pluta Rechtsanwalts, the restructuring firm managing the insolvency, did not respond to a request for comment.
Compounding the misery of former employees are their continued ties to the business, with many having only recently received termination letters, triggering, in most cases, a three-month notice period.
While this means the end may finally be in sight, the fact they are still technically employed – albeit by a business that exists in name only – continues to cause problems.
“People have been applying for jobs and they are either having to say their current employment only ends in August even though they aren’t getting paid or they lie about it and it eventually get found out. Either way the result is the same,” says one former staff member.
“They are held hostage without getting pay and then are being refused jobs. All they are doing is trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.
“Lilium has really dragged its feet when comes to just releasing everyone with immediate effect, which should have been the case.”
