Transportation Insolvent German air cab Volocopter seeks investors
The ailing German air cab manufacturer Volocopter has filed for insolvency and is looking for investors. The company hopes to enter the market with new financing.
30.12.2024, 09:25
SDA
The local court in Karlsruhe has appointed Tobias Wahl from Anchor Rechtsanwälte as provisional insolvency administrator, the company from Bruchsal in Baden announced. The lawyer announced that he intends to develop a restructuring concept by the end of February and implement it with investors. "The company now needs financing that will enable it to take the final steps towards market entry."
Volocopter still lacks a type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) to be allowed to transport passengers with the all-electric aircraft that take off vertically. Despite the insolvency proceedings filed on Boxing Day, the company assumes that this will come in the new year and that it can then get started.
"We are way ahead of the national and international competition in terms of technology, flight experience and the certification process," said Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke, who is leaving the company at the end of February.
Parallels with Lilium
"Business operations will continue," a spokesperson said. "The aim is to preserve jobs and use the insolvency proceedings to restructure Volocopter and make it competitive in the long term." Under Hoke, the number of employees has been reduced from around 700 to the current 500.
It was only in mid-November that Volocopter appointed Oliver Vogelgesang as Chief Financial Officer. He came from the also insolvent electric aircraft pioneer Lilium from Bavaria. The start-up company only announced on Christmas Eve that the investor consortium Mobile Uplift Corporation was taking over operations. According to a spokesperson, 750 employees who had been made redundant a few days before Christmas were to be brought back. Unlike Volocopter, the insolvency proceedings are being conducted under self-administration.
No help from the state
CSU politician Dorothee Bär brought the air cab industry into the public eye with an interview a few years ago. However, the industry never really got off the ground in Germany. Lilium and Volocopter had repeatedly sought financial support in the past.
State aid from Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, which was discussed over the course of the year, including the relocation of Volocopter's headquarters to the Free State, failed to materialize. Most recently, 50 million euros each had been sought from the federal government and Bavaria. In the end, the money came from investors.
The financial service Bloomberg later reported that the Chinese conglomerate Geely was interested in acquiring the air cab start-up Volocopter. Volocopter did not wish to comment on this at the time.
Search for successor for chief executive position
The statement now states that numerous rounds of financing have driven development and operations in the past. Until recently, Volocopter had been operating in an extremely difficult financial environment. "Despite intensive efforts, it has nevertheless not been possible to find a viable solution to maintain regular operations outside of insolvency proceedings for Volocopter GmbH."
Hoke had criticized politicians after the lack of aid and accused them of a lack of support: "Of course, in an industry as technologically complex and capital-intensive as ours, you also look towards the state," he told the magazine "Capital".
However, the fact that the CEO is leaving in the spring has nothing to do with the insolvency and has been known for some time. Ex-Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche is said to be looking for a successor as Chairman of the Advisory Board.
Only rescue missions in Germany?
Volocopter had actually wanted to fly people during the Olympic Games in Paris. Even though the company does not yet have permission to operate commercial passenger flights, the air cabs can still be seen. For example, there were show flights in Paris near the Palace of Versailles and regular test flights. Volocopter is also allowed to train pilots.
The start-up has cities such as Rome and Osaka on its agenda. However, regular flights in Germany are not a priority because the cities in this country are reportedly not as large and densely populated. They also have self-sufficient local transport networks. In Germany, Volocopter is working with the ADAC air rescue service to test its use for rescue purposes, for example.
Although advertised as sustainable and quiet, the modern aircraft are not without controversy: an analysis of eleven studies by the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim found that travel times were barely reduced, while costs and CO2 emissions increased compared to electric cars. "Urban air mobility can be particularly useful for emergency operations and for connecting remote regions."
