A LUXURIOUS electric jet is the golden ticket to never having to sit in traffic again – if you can afford it.
The Lilium Jet, from Germany-based Lilium Air Mobility, can turn what would be a three hour car journey into just a 35 minute flight.
Speaking to The Sun, co-founder and chief engineer Daniel Wiegand said: “I had to drive from Birmingham to come [to Farnborough], which took almost three hours because of traffic jams.
“I could have done that in 35 minutes with a Lilium jet.”
That means an equivalent three hour journey, between London and Birmingham for example, could be completed in a similar time.
Today’s travellers are in for a two hour slog on the train if they try to avoid traffic – and that’s if there are no delays, cancellations or changes.
Each flight costs about $2.50 per kilometre, and with London to Birmingham some 190km apart – the trip would cost roughly $470 (£365) one-way.
Wiegand is keen to note that while this could replace helicopters and business jets, it is distinctly not an air taxi
Bosses dub it a “regional electric jet airplane” – meaning it’s not made for darting 10 miles across a city.
Instead, it’s built for further regional travel, or anywhere between 40 and 200 miles.
“This need for regional high-speed transportation to connect different cities in much less time – this need exists really everywhere on the globe,” said Wiegand.
“You’re spending hours on the ground in traffic jams [when] you can save a lot of time by flying.
“But if you take a developed city of a million people, it takes you usually less than 30 minutes to cross [it] by car.
“Then it doesn’t make sense to use an air taxi, because you’re just spending five minutes to get to the car, then in the plane, then back in the car, and then a drive to the end [destination].
“It’s just too much swapping, and you’d rather stay on the ground.”
It takes off and lands vertically. All it requires is a helicopter landing site.
Daniel Wiegand, co-founder and chief engineer at Lilium
The battery-powered jet averages cruising speeds of 250km per hour, but can reach up to roughly 300km per hour.
The aircraft charges in roughly 45 minutes, and it doesn’t even need a runway.
“It takes off and lands vertically,” explained Wiegand, who began getting his pilot licence at just 14. “All it requires is a helicopter landing site.”
“So you can fly anywhere from your private golf club to anywhere in the city where you have a helicopter landing,” he added.
The jet, which costs between $7million and $9million depending on the interior configuration, is expected to complete its first manned flight in early 2025.
Wiegand, and his colleagues, hope to make the first deliveries to customers in 2026.
The technologies in this aircraft are the same technologies we will use after this one to make larger electric airplanes.
Daniel Wiegand, co-founder and chief engineer at Lilium
The company has received $1.5billion in investment since its launch in 2015, and has its eyes on the Middle East and China as early adopters of the Lilium jet.
In July, Lilium inked a deal with the Saudia Group, Saudi Arabia’s national airline, for 50 jets.
But that’s not where the vision stops.
Wiegand sees Lilium eventually building 5,200-seated all-electric airliners.
“We think that aviation needs to become sustainable,” he stated.
“The technologies in this aircraft are the same technologies we will use after this one to make larger electric airplanes.
“Our target is here to make 5200-seated regional airliners, which would conventionally take off and land like a normal airliner, but [with] much more speed and range.
“So you can then do a flight like London to Berlin, for example, with an entirely battery electric airliner.
“That’s the mission we have for the company.”
