On the eve of the Paris Air Show, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a €13 million grant to Elixir Aircraft. Part of a total financing package of some forty million euros, these funds will support the company’s industrialization, as well as R&D on biofuel (SAF) and hydrogen projects.

With a 4th generation aircraft already EASA certified, Elixir Aircraft is pursuing a pragmatic project to become a leader in General Aviation.

Thanks to this funding, Elixir Aircraft will be able to continue reducing the environmental impact of aviation. To achieve this, the company has made its choices: to work on weight savings, biofuels (SAF) and hydrogen. With its OneShot carbon aerostructure technology, Elixir Aircraft today offers a certified training aircraft capable of reducing its CO2 emissions by 70%; tomorrow, by 90%, thanks to SAF; and by almost 100% in several decades, thanks to hydrogen. But having an innovative aircraft doesn’t make you a leader. To find its place, Elixir Aircraft must industrialize production of its first aircraft, while developing other models to complete its range and thus become one of the manufacturers to replace the world fleet of 160,000 aircraft of the 1970s, and its colossal environmental impact.

Arthur Léopold-Léger, co-founder and president of Elixir Aircraft: “The ecological and economic constraints on aviation are becoming more pressing. And yet, humanity has never wanted to travel as much as we do today, although we can no longer do so as we have done for the past 50 years. From one end of the chain to the other, everyone has a role to play. For example, improving the ecological footprint of the aeronautical industry also means reducing CO2 emissions when training airline pilots. With its 1930s engine, a training aircraft today consumes an average of 38L/h of leaded fuel. With the Elixir, we’ve reduced this figure to 12L/h, a reduction of almost 70%. This innovation is available now, without waiting for a hypothetical technological breakthrough! Of course, innovation is a prerequisite, but it’s not enough. Without industrial production capacity, an aircraft, no matter how innovative, will not decarbonize anything if it is not delivered! That’s what this grant is all about: we need to support the production of low-carbon aircraft in France, and Elixir Aircraft is at the forefront of this battle.”

In concrete terms, this state funding will enable Elixir Aircraft to create a brand-new 10,000m² production unit at La Rochelle airport. This will eventually employ around a thousand people in a high-tech production environment. The facility will be equipped with autoclaves, digital cutting machines, laser fiber placement equipment, etc. The aim is to achieve a production rate of over 300 aircraft per month.

“Producing is one thing, but we also need to prepare for the future, as R&D and certification times are very long in our field,” adds Cyril Champenois, co-founder and Marketing & Sales Director of Elixir Aircraft. Elixir Aircraft is already working on future aircraft variants, notably with low-carbon propulsion. Our company is a member of a CORAC program alongside Daher, Safran, Air Liquide and Turbotech, with the aim of developing a turbine-powered Elixir demonstrator over the next few months, first running on SAF and then on hydrogen. Turbines offer enormous advantages in terms of applications. First of all, you have to choose the right energy. With a turbine, Elixir Aircraft is banking on SAF, thanks to the production volume that commercial aviation will guarantee [AL4]. This fuel, already technically derisked, is the only means of decarbonization in the short term. Secondly, certification regulations, pilot and mechanic qualifications, maintenance procedures… everything already exists! Not to mention the fact that student pilots will no longer learn on a piston-powered aircraft and then fly their whole lives on a turbine, they’ll learn directly on a turbine!”

Elixir Aircraft now has the resources it needs to implement its 3-stage development strategy:

1. Decarbonize its ultra-frugal aircraft in the short term with the Elixir;
2. Decarbonize in the medium term with the Elixir turbine powered by biofuel (SAF); and
3. Decarbonize in the long term with the Elixir turbine powered by liquid hydrogen.

About Elixir Aircraft

Elixir Aircraft, a company headquartered in La Rochelle, France, with nearly 100 employees, was founded in 2015 to meet the challenges of global light aviation.

The French company’s objective: to manufacture safer, more economical and more versatile aircraft. Complexity is the reason why today’s aircraft suffer from failures (technical or human), and are costly to operate (fuel consumption and maintenance).

Elixir Aircraft uses a technology from the world of competitive sailing, the Carbon Oneshot, to simplify structures. More simplicity means fewer failures, so greater safety, but also less maintenance, and lower costs (estimates of €40/h fuel and maintenance).

At the end of 2021, Elixir Aircraft opened a new production site in Périgny, Charente Maritime, to internalize all carbon parts production.

Elixir Aircraft in Numbers

• 4th-generation two-seater aircraft EASA CS-23 certified since 2020
• 100 employees, including more than 70 new hires since the first quarter of 2021
• Two production sites in France, one of 2300m², the other of 2000m².
• +70 aircraft on firm order
• +140 aircraft on pre-order and letters of intent in the U.S. and Europe

Source: Elixir Aircraft Press Release
Photo Credit: Elixir Aircraft (shown as meta image)