The FAA has accepted Lilium's application to begin negotiating the certification basis for its electric air taxi, marking another milestone on the startup’s path to achieve type certification for its six-passenger Lilium Jet in late 2025.

Receipt of the G-1 certification basis from the FAA is a necessary step for Lilium to eventually achieve concurrent validation in the U.S. of its European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)-issued type certification. The process of concurrent validation is spelled out under the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement between the EU and U.S. 

The Lilium Jet will be certified under the FAA’s Part 21.17b rules for powered-lift aircraft in the U.S., and under EASA’s Special Condition for Vertical Takeoff and Landing (SC-VTOL) in Europe.

The G-1 Certification Basis, the first in the multistep type certification process, establishes the set of airworthiness and environmental standards that companies must satisfy with their aircraft through testing and demonstration.

As per standard FAA practice, Lilium and EASA will now have the opportunity to provide feedback on the G-1 before the document is issued for public consultation, Lilium says. 

“We are the first powered-lift eVTOL pioneer in our industry holding a Certification Basis from EASA and the FAA,” Lilium Chief Technology Officer Alastair McIntosh said in a statement. “This is a major step toward our goal of achieving early certification of our aircraft in key markets to support a worldwide entry into service, and we are grateful to have found great partners on both sides of the pond to electrify the skies.”

Speaking to Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show last week, Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe said the Lilium Jet is on track for its first manned flight test by late 2024. “It’s an ambitious goal for sure, but we’ve been audited like nobody else, and all of our auditors agree that it’s totally feasible,” Roewe said. 

Lilium is currently test flying with two technology demonstrators and has entered wind tunnel testing using a powered, 40%-scale prototype, which Roewe said will provide critical data related to flight physics, aerodynamic exploration, icing and loads, feeding into development of the initial conforming prototypes. The company is also setting up a dedicated engine test facility where it will begin trying out its production-version engines before year’s end, he added.

The first manned flight tests late next year will allow Lilium to access predelivery deposits (PDP) from its 745-aircraft order backlog, which are believed to be around one-third of the Lilium Jet purchase price.

In the meantime, the company plans to finance its testing and certification efforts through a fresh $250 million capital raise led by existing investor Tencent of China that was announced May 1 and has yet to close. Of that amount, $100 million was prefunded by Tencent, which has pledged an additional $75 million to match Lilium if it can raise $75 million more on its own—which Roewe said he is “fully confident” that Lilium can easily manage. 

“Just as I was not overly worried before the Tencent announcement, I am not overly worried about this [$75 million], although I cannot say anything more beyond that at this stage,” he said. 

Still, Lilium’s relatively narrow cash buffer means it is not completely out of the woods yet. Should the company’s timeline for first manned flight test slip beyond the fourth quarter of 2024, it would likely have to raise additional capital in the form of equity before it could access the PDPs, wrote Austin Moeller of Canaccord Genuity in a June 26 client note. He added that his firm is remaining neutral on Lilium until there is “better visibility into the company’s capital pipeline to complete vehicle development.”