Lilium Aerospace employees are still no clearer when their wages for January will be paid after another week passed under the electric air taxi developer’s new ownership.
Salaries were due to be paid by 31 January, and although pay slips were issued that day, funds have yet to arrive in staff bank accounts, multiple sources have told FlightGlobal.
Staff were told at a company-wide meeting on 3 February that ownership of the assets and operations of Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH had transferred to their new owner, Lilium Aerospace, previously known as Mobile Uplift Corporation (MUC).
However, despite the apparent ownership change, there has been no resolution to the wages issue, which was previously blamed on the complexities of transferring large sums of money internationally.
Staff making inquiries to Lilium’s HR department in recent days have been told they do not know when the wages will arrive.
The HR team says it has been assured that the investors behind MUC/Lilium Aerospace are working to rectify the situation and that resolving the issue is a priority, according to a message seen by FlightGlobal.
However, the HR team could provide no timeline for when this might take place.
Contacted by FlightGlobal, Lilium says it cannot provide an update at present or a reason for the delay.
MUC – “an experienced consortium of investors from Europe and North America” – on 24 December emerged as the buyer for the assets and operations of the two German Lilium subsidiaries which were on the verge of closure after entering a self-administration insolvency process in late October.
Around 200 staff at the subsidiaries were let go in early December, with those remaining – about 800 employees – then made redundant at the end of the month as closure loomed. However, when MUC emerged as the potential saviour, those redundancy notices were rescinded and staff moved over to the new business after signing new contracts.
Dutch-registered parent company Lilium NV is also being wound up after the start of insolvency proceedings against it on 30 December.
Previously traded on the US Nasdaq exchange, Lilium’s shares were delisted last year. Although still available to buy or sell, it is unclear what, if any, value is left in the company or its stock.
“The company does not expect any distributions to holders of its Class A ordinary shares in connection with the winding up process,” an 8 January US securities filing states.
Additionally it says that Lilium NV will not “receive proceeds” from the sale of the two subsidiaries “which [would] enable it to make any distributions to shareholders”.
