Saudi national carrier firms up Lilium flying taxi order

Saudi Arabia’s national carrier will buy 50 electric aircraft from German manufacturer Lilium NV, with an option to double the purchase as the oil-rich kingdom looks for advanced modes of travel to tourist attractions. Saudia and Lilium signed the binding sales agreement on Thursday at an event in Gauting near Munich, where Lilium is based. The two sides already entered a looser memorandum of understanding in late 2022 for the electric vertical take-off and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft. Saudia plans to deploy the craft across different locations. These include Jeddah, where it will carry passengers between the city to hotels in Mecca for religious tourism. Others will be in the capital and the Red Sea, where the jet will transport people between airports and projects being turned into tourism sites. The purchase of the remaining aircraft depends on performance and support that Lilium will provide, Saudia said. Saudi Arabia plans to pour $800b into tourism over the next decade as it aims to host 150m tourists a year. Lilium said the deal is the largest reported firm order of eVTOL aircraft by an airline that plans to operate the plane. The $7m Lilium jet, which comes in configurations of four to six passengers and one pilot, looks more like a small aircraft than a helicopter, boasting two sets of wings and ducted electrically-powered turbines. <br/>