Shenzhen municipality Bao’an District and Lilium partner for China eVTOL service

At the Paris Air Show open­ing today, China’s Shen­zhen munic­i­pal­i­ty Bao’an Dis­trict and Lil­i­um announced they will open region­al head­quar­ters as a first step in a part­ner­ship to estab­lish a safe and sus­tain­able eVTOL ser­vice in Chi­na with the Lil­i­um Jet.

The col­lab­o­ra­tion will ini­tial­ly focus on the Guangdong–Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with a pop­u­la­tion of over 85 mil­lion peo­ple, with plans to grow across Chi­na and the broad­er Asia-Pacif­ic region. The goal of the region­al head­quar­ters is to rep­re­sent Lil­i­um in Chi­na and the Asia-Pacif­ic region and to facil­i­tate Lil­i­um Jet sales, ser­vices, and sup­port in the area.

The Bao’an District’s exten­sive region­al knowl­edge will ben­e­fit Lil­i­um as the two par­ties build the foun­da­tion for pre­mi­um eVTOL oper­a­tions in the Greater Bay Area, includ­ing defin­ing launch routes, use cas­es, and oth­er logis­tics relat­ed to the Lil­i­um Jet’s entry into ser­vice.

A rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Bao’an Dis­trict of Shen­zhen munic­i­pal­i­ty said: “As the aer­i­al gate­way of Shen­zhen and a hub for the aero­space indus­try, Bao’an Dis­trict pos­sess­es unique advan­tages in the devel­op­ment of the low-alti­tude econ­o­my, includ­ing a cen­tral loca­tion in the Greater Bay Area, robust indus­tri­al sup­port, and a wide range of appli­ca­tion sce­nar­ios.

“Going for­ward, we will cre­ate a bet­ter envi­ron­ment and pro­vide greater sup­port for the project to land. We also hope that Lil­i­um will accel­er­ate its foot­print in Bao’an, expand­ing the estab­lish­ment of sales cen­tres, research and devel­op­ment cen­tres, pro­duc­tion, and oth­er facil­i­ties in Bao’an, to achieve faster and stronger growth.”

Lil­i­um CEO Klaus Roewe added: “Chi­na rep­re­sents an enor­mous oppor­tu­ni­ty for the eVTOL indus­try, pro­ject­ing to amount to as much as 25% of the mar­ket. We are thrilled to be enter­ing Chi­na with such a strong part­ner – the Bao’an Dis­trict.

“Fast, com­fort­able, and sus­tain­able trans­port will strong­ly con­tribute to the region’s devel­op­ment. We are grate­ful for the com­mit­ment and engage­ment the Bao’an Dis­trict is offer­ing.”

Lil­i­um also announced an agree­ment with Shen­zhen East­ern Gen­er­al Avi­a­tion (Heli-East­ern), which intends to order 100 Lil­i­um Jets and to iden­ti­fy poten­tial sites and part­ners for Lilium’s ver­ti­ports and oth­er ground infra­struc­ture.

Heli-East­ern is approved by the Civ­il Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion of Chi­na as a pilot com­pa­ny for the Reform of Low-Alti­tude Air­space Man­age­ment, and cen­tred from its Yant­ian Head­quar­ters in Shen­zhen. Upon type-cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of the Lil­i­um Jet, Heli-East­ern will oper­ate the air­craft in the region and pro­vide crew­ing and main­te­nance ser­vices.