Lilium adds FAA eVTOL G1 approval to earlier EU air taxi OK

German electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) manufacturer Lilium announced it has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its proposed basis of air taxi certification, making it what the company says is the first power-lift aircraft developer to obtain that all-clear by both US and European Union regulators.

Lilium said it had gotten G1 Certification Basis from the FAA – a foundational step required of all air taxi makers seeking eventual type approval in the US. In the more recent and limited-sized aircraft category of eVTOL planes, that approval had previously been obtained by future air taxi suppliers in the US, and from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) – but never before by both, according to Lilium. 

Read: Air taxi eVTOLs star at Paris Air Show’s first aerial mobility section

The EASA issued its authorization of Lilium’s basis for air taxi certification under…