Lilium N.V. (NASDAQ: LILM) (“Lilium”), developer of the first all-electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) jet, announced that it is accelerating its next phase of product delivery and business growth with the naming of Klaus Roewe, long-time Airbus executive, as CEO. Roewe will be joining Lilium on August 1, 2022. Daniel Wiegand, Lilium co-founder and the current CEO, will continue as Lilium’s Chief Engineer for Innovation and Future Programs and as a Board Director.

“The Board ran an extensive global CEO search and are genuinely excited with the appointment of Klaus Roewe. We believe adding Klaus as CEO will give us unparalleled executional leadership to complement Lilium’s innovative DNA as we continue the development of the Lilium Jet and advance towards Type Certification and scale production – Klaus has a breadth of operational experience that is very rare in our industry” said Lilium Chairman, Tom Enders.

During his 30 years at Airbus, Klaus Roewe has spearheaded all phases of the life cycle of a commercial aircraft across Engineering, Manufacturing, Program management and Customer Support. He led Airbus’ most important business line, the A320 and A320neo programs, to unprecedented success during his tenure: improving aircraft performance, doubling EBIT, cutting unit costs, while increasing market share and FCF, making it the most successful large commercial aircraft program of all time.

Daniel and his co-founders launched the company in 2015, designing and proving out a novel eVTOL jet architecture – and attracting some of best talent in the industry to help them achieve their mission. Since then, the company has gone from a start-up to a Nasdaq-listed company with over 800 employees and a dynamic, experienced, leadership team pulled from the best of aerospace and high-tech.

Barry Engle, former President of GM North America and Lilium Board Director, said: “As CEO, Daniel has inspired us with a bold vision of transforming sustainable regional mobility with a breakthrough electric jet technology. As a Board and as investors, we are delighted that Daniel will continue to focus on this vision and to help drive innovation around core technologies and future products.”

“I am absolutely thrilled to have Klaus Roewe as our next CEO – I firmly believe that he is the right person to lead us through this next phase; and adding him gives Lilium the ideal mix of Silicon Valley innovation with deep aerospace know-how,” said Daniel Wiegand.

“I’m proud to be joining the most innovative and differentiated eVTOL company in our industry,“ said Klaus Roewe. He added: “I look forward to working with all the Lilium teams to advance the development of our aircraft and to drive Lilium’s success in revolutionizing sustainable air transport.”

As is standard practice, the formal role of CEO will be effective upon approval at Lilium’s 2022 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.