Reinvigorated electric air taxi developer Volocopter is confident that it can have four new aircraft types in service by 2030 on the back of its rescue earlier this year by Austria’s Diamond Aircraft.

Like compatriot Lilium, Bruchsal, Germany-based Volocopter was forced into self-administered insolvency in December 2024 after running out of cash. However, the firm was saved in March when Diamond – owned by China’s Wanfeng Aviation Industry – agreed to acquire the firm’s assets.

Following a reorganisation and rationalisation of the business, Volocopter has emerged a leaner entity on a secure financial footing, says chief technology officer David Bausek, a 20-year Diamond veteran.

Besides shoring up the finances of its new subsidiary, the Austrian airframer is also supplying its engineering and approvals expertise: “We certified more than 20 different models in recent years,” says Bausek. “This is what Volocopter missed in the past.”

There was also, he argues, a lack of prioritisation, with multiple projects running in parallel: “There were a lot of things and they didn’t finish one,” he says. “We [Diamond] come from the other side: product, TC [type certification], product, TC.”

Volocopter will still build its aircraft at Bruchsal – the site contains composite and battery production facilities, as well as a final assembly line sized for 100 units per year – but can now also draw on Diamond’s production network, which includes factories in Austria and China, plus a substantial supplier base and support operation.

“That was what Volocopter missed: even if management had succeeded [in bringing the aircraft to market] they could not scale up: there was no footprint, no service centre network.”

But the takeover will only be considered a success if a product actually reaches the market.

“We are pretty far on with the VoloCity,” Bausek says – Volocopter’s distinctive two-passenger electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

“We have the certification basis, the means of compliance, we have a conforming aircraft, and we are at the point where we have certification plans that have been accepted,” he says.

He says type certification should be secured from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) late next year, leading to service entry in 2027.

Arrival of the VoloCity will be preceded in mid-2026 by the VoloXPro – formerly the X2 – a slimmed-down version of the VoloCity with a maximum take-off weight of just 600kg (1,320lb), aimed at the owner-flyer market.

Although the two aircraft both use the same architecture, featuring a ring of 18 lift rotors powered by 15kW electric motors, the VoloXPro lacks the higher levels of redundancy needed for passenger transport operations. Accordingly, it is priced at around €500,000-600,000, versus €2-3 million for the VoloCity.

Volocopter sees the 10nm (20km)-range VoloCity as suitable for short-range urban air mobility operations, medical first-responder services and for pilot training, the latter driven by the relatively low acquisition cost versus larger platforms.

Two more aircraft types are also in Volocopter’s plans: the VoloUrban from 2028, followed by the VoloRegion in 2030.

Although both concepts were drawn up by the company prior to its insolvency, only the longer-range VoloRegion was announced publicly, while the VoloUrban was “not promoted so much”.

Scheduled to enter service in 2028, the VoloUrban is a “niche product” that sits between the VoloCity and the larger and more complex VoloRegion or other lift-and-cruise designs. It will be capable of carrying one pilot and four passengers up to 80nm, says Bausek.

It still uses a multi-rotor configuration, but with the incorporation of “lots of lifting surfaces” to ensure range capability. Crucially, from a development and certification perspective, it shares around 50% of its components – principally the flight-control system – with the VoloCity.

“It was started before the acquisition but we have looked at that and see it as a good product in between as it will use what we have already certified,” says Bausek.

“We are in the phase of detailed design, then next will be a prototype in 2026,” he says.

Bausek declines to discuss Volocopter’s order book for the VoloXPro and VoloCity – it is not yet taking commitments for the two larger aircraft – but says the business model is “solid”.

He sees good progress across the business, having restructured the operation post-acquisition, cutting duplicated functions such as HR and marketing so Volocopter now has “a very strong focus on certification”. Crucially, the engineering team is untouched: “There were 120 people, there are 120 now,” he says.

And while Volocopter previously had gained a reputation for touring the globe with its aircraft, this activity has now been curtailed as “it ate up a lot of resources but didn’t help gain the TC”.

Diamond, of course, is best known for its family of piston-powered single- and twin-engined light aircraft, so its interest in Volocopter could, at first glance, appear puzzling.

But the answer lies partly with parent Wanfeng, which prior to the Volocopter acquisition had begun developing alongside car maker Volkswagen an eVTOL aircraft called the V.Mo.

However, Volkswagen pulled out of the project last year, leaving Wanfeng’s ambitions in the sector unfulfilled until Volocopter’s assets became available; its expertise in flight-control systems was seen as particularly valuable, says Bausek.

Indeed, the VoloRegion has benefitted from input from the V.Mo project, he says: “We have taken the best out of both to make it a joint concept.”