COST-BASED AND HEADS-DOWN ENGINEERING

Based on prior experience in developing large aircrafts, the founding team of ERC was poised to build a winning electric aviation company - one that could benefit from being a second mover.
From the outset, our journey has been shaped by the dedicated support of three distinct and influential partners: Prof. Dr. Rudolf F. Schwarz of the IABG, our founding investor, whose strategic stake in ERC plays a central role in shaping our direction and long-term potential; DRF Luftrettung, our ideological partner, whose operational expertise and growing commitment now accelerate our mission; and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Florian Holzapfel from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), whose academic collaboration provides targeted research input and R&D guidance. United by a shared vision to solve the pressing cost–time dilemma between conventional helicopter services and ground transportation, these partnerships have laid the foundation for the development of our innovative Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing platform.

In 2021, ERC expanded its team with the first key hires, filling essential roles to support the growing complexity of the project. This year also marked the beginning of our creation phase, during which the foundations of our aviation platform was defined. At the same time, we began building our supplier network, initiating outreach to strategic partners who would later become crucial to our development. 2022 brought the first real-world validation of our ideas with the launch of the ground testing campaign for our full-scale, full-mass demonstrator, Echo.

After years of intensive development, analysis, and testing, ERC reached a major milestone with the successful vertical takeoff of Echo, one of Europe’s heaviest full-mass demonstrators with a mass of 2,730 kilograms. This achievement represented a key moment in our progress, significantly reducing technological risk in the development program and validating the depth and precision of our engineering work.

2024 marked the year where ERC revealed Romeo, our second full-scale, full-mass demonstrator generation. With this aircraft, we aim to achieve a successful flight in 2025 and advance to the next stage of our development program.