Saudia prepares to launch electric jet service

Saudia Group

• Saudia unveils Lilium jet
• Long-term collaboration plan
• First service expected in 2026

Saudia Airlines’ electric jet plane is the first step towards zero-carbon commercial flights in medium-sized planes, according to its German manufacturer Lilium. 

Daniel Wiegand, co-founder and chief engineer for innovation at Lilium, said both parties were looking beyond the initial sale of 50 Lilium jets, which Saudia bought for at least $7 million each, with an option to buy another 50. 

By 2035 Lilium has its sights set on a 50-to-80-seat electric plane that can travel 1,000km and a 100-seater that can travel 2,000km by 2045. 

“What that means is you can electrify about 50 percent of all [air] passengers globally,” Wiegand said.

“It all depends on the battery technology. Right now the batteries are good enough for the smaller airplanes, but batteries are improving by six to seven percent a year. 

“Batteries have been consistently underestimated in the last 20-30 years because people always evaluate them based on what they do today – they don’t take into consideration that they improve all the time.” 

Saudia Group

Displaying the jet for the first time at a global logistics forum in Riyadh this week, Saudia officials said the first one will come into service in 2026 and others will follow as they come off the production line in Munich. 

There are seven other major makers of electric aircraft, mostly branded as air taxis or flying cars. The futuristic Saudi city of Neom is using another brand called Volocopter which is smaller and resembles a helicopter. 

The Lilium jet also uses vertical take-off and landing but without rotors. Although this takes a lot of battery usage, it allows for quick boarding and disembarking from helipads inside urban areas and do not require a runway. 

• Saudia to buy 50 air taxis from Germany’s Lilium
• Neom flying taxis ‘should be ready by 2026,’ says developer
• Saudi trials unmanned air taxis for Hajj pilgrims

They come in two versions: a luxury four-seater and a six-seater version, that will fly regular services from Jeddah and Riyadh to surrounding tourist and pilgrim sites within a 175km radius.  

Wiegand said the plane is cheaper to fly than a conventional plane and with battery packs on the wings instead of fuel tanks, it’s also far less noisy. 

“Saudia is very excited. Of course it wants to operate the first product now but there is a great opportunity for all of us together to become leaders in electric aviation,” Wiegand said.

He said larger commercial versions will need to use a conventional runway. 

“Like we’ve seen the electric car and then the truck, eventually you’ll see [large] electric aircraft that are battery powered,” he said.