Volocopter insolvency proceedings progress
March 6, 2025
German eVTOL developer Volocopter’s dream of bringing its aircraft to market may well be over, with provisional insolvency proceedings progressing as almost all staff are placed on gardening leave.
An increasingly challenging outlook would appear to be at odds with the optimism expressed by the company since its filing for insolvency in late December 2024, with Volocopter remaining confident its two-seat VoloCity craft would enter the market in 2025. However, despite noting that Volocopter has thus far “successfully operated in an extremely difficult financial environment,” CEO Dirk Hoke nevertheless admitted at the time that “despite recent fundraising efforts, finding a viable solution to maintain regular operations outside of insolvency proceedings has not been possible”.
As reported by German press agency DPA, these provisional insolvency proceedings have now moved to regular insolvency proceedings, quoting a Karlsruhe district court spokesperson as saying: “The opening of insolvency proceedings is independent of a potential continuation solution for the company and the business operations of Volocopter GmbH, but always follows the insolvency application proceedings in terms of procedure”.
“After years of dedication and relentless effort from an outstanding team, we are now facing the closing of this chapter of Volocopter – though a small glimmer of hope remains,” wrote CTO Sebastian Mores on social media. “Over the past decade, [the Volocopter team] have built invaluable expertise across engineering, certification, IT, production, flight testing, strategy, business development, and beyond. I couldn’t be prouder of what we have accomplished together”.
WirtschaftsWoche also reported that Volocopter’s approximately 500 employees received an internal email on Monday, notifying them of the situation, and adding: “The current situation is challenging for all of us… with the filing for insolvency and the associated release, a process is now beginning that is associated with time-critical organisational steps”.
Last month, Jet Systems Hélicoptères Services entered into what Volocopter described as a “long-term” agreement to bring eVTOL aircraft services to France, with the French charter provider to initially purchase two aircraft. Volocopter has also been actively continuing the flight testing of its VoloCity prototype in the last months, although it now seems unlikely these will progress beyond this point.
