Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developers Joby and Lilium have announced completion of important steps in their respective work to obtain air taxi certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The coinciding announcements by Lilium and Joby involve fulfillment of requirements in the wider air taxi certification process. Though outwardly administrative in nature, those are obligatory points of passage for eventual eVTOL certification by the FAA and EASA.
Along with sector rivals that include Archer, Wisk, and Volocopter, both Joby and Lilium continue their respective drives to obtain eVTOL certification, and planned launches of commercial air taxi services sometime in 2025.
Headquartered near Santa Cruz, California, Joby is initially focusing on obtaining FAA approval to enable a US rollout, while Munich-based Lilium will first seek EASA craft authorization – though it has also qualified for the aircraft accreditation process in the United States.
Read more: Lilium adds FAA eVTOL basis of certification approval to earlier EU air taxi spec authorization
Joby said its news centered on the delivery of complete Certification Plans with the FAA, a step bringing it closer to finishing the third of five steps in regulator’s vetting process. Joby – which in February became the first eVTOL company to finish the second part of the FAA approval marathon – says its filing details the tests, analyses, and design reports its air taxis will be subject to.
Those specifications of both hardware and software of every onboard system flow from earlier documents the company had to provide as part of completing the previous certification phase.
“Joby continues to lead the way on certifying eVTOL aircraft with the FAA, and today’s news is another step towards launching commercial service in 2025,” said Didier Papadopoulos, the firm’s head of aircraft original manufacturing. “We’re grateful for the FAA’s continued commitment to safely introducing next-generation aircraft into service.”
For its part, Lillium announced it had completed the EASA’s fourth and final Design Organization Approval (DOA) audit.
Read: Air taxi eVTOLs star at Paris Air Show’s first aerial mobility section
That approval of the company’s organization, procedures, competencies, and resources to design and certify eVTOL aircraft acts as a blanket acceptance of continued air taxi development. Under that, Lilium may continue working without each and every phase of the process needing to be checked out by EASA auditors – so long as the company vouches for the results involved meeting specified standards.
“In simple terms, a Design Organization Approval can be thought of as a ‘licence to operate,’” explained Lilium chief technology officer Alastair McIntosh of the DOA qualification Lilium applied for in 2017. “An aerospace company in Europe can neither hold a Type Certificate, nor undertake or approve design activity without having a DOA. Successfully completing the fourth and final DOA audit pays tribute to the caliber of our team and the rigor of our design processes.”
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