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MIDDLE EAST: Lilium and Saudia Group sign binding sales agreement for 50 Lilium Jets, with option to purchase 50 more

Saudia Group and Lil­i­um have signed a bind­ing sales agree­ment for 50 Lil­i­um Jets, with options for the pur­chase of 50 more. 

This sales agree­ment fol­lows the Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing between Saudia Group and Lil­i­um signed in Octo­ber 2022 and is the largest of its kind in the MENA region. It also rep­re­sents an impor­tant indus­try mile­stone as the largest report­ed firm order of eVTOL air­craft by an air­line that plans to oper­ate the air­craft.

The agree­ment includes a sched­ule of deposit and pre-deliv­ery pay­ments, time­line of future deliv­er­ies, guar­an­tees on air­craft per­for­mance, and pro­vi­sions on spare parts, main­te­nance, and repairs. In addi­tion, the par­ties intend to sign a com­pre­hen­sive “Lil­i­um POWER-ON” agree­ment for air­craft fleet main­te­nance and sup­port ser­vices. 

The sig­na­ture cer­e­mo­ny was held at Lilium’s HQ in Gaut­ing near Munich, signed by Fahd Al-Jar­bou, CEO of Saudia Pri­vate, rep­re­sent­ing Saudia Group, and Lil­i­um’s CEO Klaus Roewe.

H.E. Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Direc­tor Gen­er­al of Saudia Group, said: “Saudia Group is proud to pio­neer the MENA region as the first com­pa­ny to acquire all-elec­tric eVTOL jets, which reflects our com­mit­ment to con­tin­u­ous­ly reduc­ing our car­bon foot­print and becom­ing an indus­try leader in region­al elec­tric avi­a­tion.

“We rec­og­nize the crit­i­cal role that Lil­i­um is posi­tioned to play in enabling us to deliv­er a sus­tain­able pre­mi­um avi­a­tion expe­ri­ence and trans­port our guests even clos­er to their des­ti­na­tion. This agree­ment ampli­fies our com­mit­ment to the Sau­di Vision 2030 and is the result of a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort over the past years between Lil­i­um and Saudia Group to explore how we can best bring eVTOL to the skies of Sau­di Ara­bia. We are look­ing for­ward to the jour­ney ahead.”  

Through this agree­ment, Saudia Group con­tin­ues its ambi­tious objec­tive to bring the world to the King­dom by deploy­ing its fleet of advanced eVTOL jets.

This ini­tia­tive enhances con­nec­tiv­i­ty by pro­vid­ing seam­less first and last leg con­nec­tions into Saudia Group’s region­al hubs and new point-to-point city con­nec­tions, such as Jed­dah to Makkah, expect­ed to reduce region­al trav­el times by up to 90 per cent.

These jets will sup­port Hajj and Umrah pil­grim­ages, offer faster access to key sports and enter­tain­ment events in Riyadh, and unlock new pos­si­bil­i­ties for explor­ing hard-to-reach tourist des­ti­na­tions across the King­dom.

Addi­tion­al­ly, busi­ness trav­el­ers attend­ing con­fer­ences and events will ben­e­fit from improved access and swift trans­porta­tion. The eVTOL jets are antic­i­pat­ed to increase flight fre­quen­cies and decrease traf­fic con­ges­tion, pro­vid­ing a fast and con­ve­nient alter­na­tive for reach­ing var­i­ous des­ti­na­tions with­in the King­dom. 

Al-Omar added: “The eVTOL jets are rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing guest trans­porta­tion. Their unique ver­ti­cal take-off and land­ing capa­bil­i­ties open up entire­ly new routes. Imag­ine trav­el­ing up to 175 kilo­me­ters at speeds of 250 kilo­me­ters per hour, sav­ing valu­able time com­pared to tra­di­tion­al options.

“This tech­nol­o­gy also tack­les traf­fic con­ges­tion head-on. Busi­ness trav­el­ers and exhi­bi­tion atten­dees will ben­e­fit tremen­dous­ly from the ease and speed of elec­tric air­craft, allow­ing them to seam­less­ly attend and par­tic­i­pate in events. These inno­v­a­tive vehi­cles will also be a game-chang­er for tourism, sports, and enter­tain­ment, offer­ing a pre­mi­um trav­el expe­ri­ence for these excit­ing des­ti­na­tions.” 

Saudia Group expects to receive the first jets in 2026, for which oper­a­tions will be man­aged and run by Saudia Pri­vate, a sub­sidiary of Saudia Group. The Lil­i­um Jet will fea­ture large, pre­mi­um cab­ins with capac­i­ty for up to six pas­sen­gers plus lug­gage.

Pri­or to com­mer­cial­iza­tion, Saudia Group will pro­vide strate­gic sup­port in Lilium’s cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process with the Gen­er­al Author­i­ty of Civ­il Avi­a­tion (GACA), Sau­di Arabia’s avi­a­tion reg­u­la­to­ry agency.  

Klaus Roewe, CEO of Lil­i­um, added: “We are proud of our part­ner­ship with a mar­ket lead­ing air­line such as Saudia. And we are thrilled to be pio­neer­ing progress in the eVTOL indus­try as the eVTOL man­u­fac­tur­er with the largest report­ed firm pur­chase order from an inter­na­tion­al air­line that plans to oper­ate the air­craft.

“The Mid­dle East is a pri­or­i­ty for Lil­i­um, and Sau­di Ara­bia will be a very large and excit­ing mar­ket for elec­tric, high-speed region­al air mobil­i­ty. Our part­ner­ship will com­bine Saudia Group’s sig­nif­i­cant mar­ket knowl­edge with our unique eVTOL tech­nol­o­gy to trans­form pre­mi­um class air trav­el in the GCC region.” 

This pur­chase agree­ment with Saudia Group marks the lat­est addi­tion to Lilium’s exten­sive order pipeline that now con­sists of 106 firm orders and reser­va­tions, 76 options, and rough­ly 600 air­craft under MOU. Lil­i­um is in advanced dis­cus­sions with addi­tion­al glob­al car­ri­ers that are look­ing to reduce car­bon emis­sions and elec­tri­fy region­al air trav­el. 

This pur­chase agree­ment with Saudia Group marks the lat­est addi­tion to Lilium’s exten­sive order pipeline that now con­sists of 106 firm orders and reser­va­tions, 76 options, and rough­ly 600 air­craft under MOU. Lil­i­um is in advanced dis­cus­sions with addi­tion­al glob­al car­ri­ers that are look­ing to reduce car­bon emis­sions and elec­tri­fy region­al air trav­el. 

eVTOL Insights is part of the Industry Insights Group. Registered in the UK. Company No: 14395769