The company Lilium, based near Munich, developed an electric air taxi and employed about 1,100 people. In 2024 it asked for a federal guarantee of 50 million euros on a loan from the state development bank KfW. Bavaria was ready to guarantee another 50 million. The federal transport minister supported the aid. The FDP budget politician Frank Schäffler opposed it: Mit Steuergeldern des Bundes darf nicht spekuliert werden. (Federal tax money must not be used to speculate.) The budget committee of the Bundestag did not approve the guarantee, and the Bavarian money fell through with it. Lilium’s chief executive had written that the initial investments were simply too high to be carried by private money alone. On 28 October 2024 Lilium filed for insolvency.