For 10 million euros

Chinese want to buy air cab company Volocopter

The start-up, which was founded in 2011, had actually wanted to transport passengers for a long time, but has not yet received a type certificate.(Bild: AFP/THIBAUD MORITZ)

The Chinese group Wanfeng wants to buy the insolvent German air cab manufacturer Volocopter for ten million euros. This was revealed in a stock exchange announcement by Wanfeng before the contract was signed. "Volocopter is not commenting on this at present," said a spokesperson for the company.

According to the announcement, the deal will be handled by a specially founded subsidiary based in Berlin, which is assigned to the Austrian aircraft manufacturer Diamond Aircraft. This is 100 percent owned by Wanfeng. 

Around 450 employees made redundant
Volocopter filed for the opening of insolvency proceedings on Boxing Day. Karlsruhe Local Court appointed Tobias Wahl from Anchor Rechtsanwälte as provisional insolvency administrator. He wanted to develop a restructuring concept by the end of February and implement it with investors.

The local court then opened insolvency proceedings at the beginning of March. At a meeting at the beginning of last week, all employees were informed that they would be laid off with immediate effect. According to dpa information, around 450 people are affected. According to "Wirtschaftswoche", around 160 of them will continue to be employed.

Type approval for passenger operations is missing
The start-up, which was founded in 2011, had long wanted to transport passengers with all-electric aircraft that take off and land vertically. However, it still lacks a type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency.

The declaration of insolvency stated that numerous rounds of financing had driven development and operations forward in the past. Until recently, Volocopter had survived in an extremely difficult financial environment. "Despite intensive efforts, it was not possible to find a viable solution to maintain regular operations outside of insolvency proceedings for Volocopter GmbH."