• 02 Aug 2025 11:20 AM
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Q&A with Ascendance CEO Jean-Christophe Lambert

By Alex Scerri

 

This article is a supplement to the July/August 2025 issue of Vertiflite magazine. 

 

In a bumpy start to 2025, the European electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) industry was hit by high-profile insolvencies of the continent’s front-runners in advanced air mobility (AAM) — Volocopter, rescued by Chinese-owned Diamond Aircraft, and Lilium, which met its untimely demise. Following this, Vertiflite spoke with Jean-Christophe Lambert, CEO of Ascendance, to check the progress of the company’s eVTOL project, the Atea, as well as his outlook for the industry. This interview was lightly edited.

 

Atea is a 2-t (4,400-lb), five-seat, hybrid-electric eVTOL aircraft targeted for passenger transport, medical and cargo, with a range of 350 km (195 nm) plus a 30-minute reserve. A cruise speed of 200 km/h (110 kt) is expected via cruise propellers on the nose and tail.

 

Lambert co-founded Ascendance in 2018 after a ten-year stint at Airbus, where he covered various roles, culminating as program director of the E-Fan program, the first two-seat electric aircraft to cross the Channel between the UK and France in July 2015. He co-founded the company (originally called Ascendance Flight Technologies) with three other partners, all from the E-Fan team.

 

Vertiflite: Now that you are seven years from the birth of Ascendance, how do you measure your progress in relation to your plans?

 

Lambert:

We started by taking time to make some fundamental technical and market choices. From the technical side, the two key choices were to have a hybrid-electric propulsion system and the lift + cruise configuration. As a market, we wanted to be an alternative to legacy helicopters, rather than the air taxi mission, as we are not fully electric and don’t plan to tap into urban air mobility (UAM).

 

We tested and flew our propulsion-system technology at a reduced scale of 1:4 and now have progressed to full-scale testing — including the avionics systems with pilot-in-the-loop simulations — and integrating our propulsion system in our iron bird test bench.

 

A full-scale wing is being tested in the wind tunnel and right now, we are building the full-scale aircraft that will be piloted. It is a different approach to most other competitors as we took a lot of time in ground testing to have a first flight with a pilot on board.

 

Vertiflite: You mentioned that 2025 will be an important year for the company. Can you give us some insight on that?

 

Lambert:

As we finish assembling the first aircraft, we are targeting the first flight toward the end of this year or early 2026, and that is a major milestone for any aircraft project. Like other aerospace companies, we are facing some supply-chain challenges that may incur some delay. Overall, we are very satisfied with our suppliers, and on a positive note, we have just finalized an agreement with Safran to use their ENGINeUS motors in Atea for horizontal propulsion.

 

We will also get a lot of feedback from customers, as we have already signed more than 600 letters of intent (LOIs) or preorders. With this, and getting a clear view of our supply chain for industrialization in the future, 2025 will have a lot of learning and give us a clear projection of the certification path ahead.

 

Vertiflite: Your business is split between being an aircraft manufacturer with Atea but also a hybrid-propulsion system supplier with your Sterna system. What is the split of focus between the two products?

 

Lambert:

That’s not an easy question. I would say it’s 50/50, as we have seen good commercial interest for Sterna. We flew our system in a French DGA defense procurement agency drone, an adapted Delair DT46 [uncrewed aircraft system] and there are other projects that we cannot disclose yet. Sterna has the potential to power from drones to much larger aircraft. It will be an important market as it seems that hybrid-power solutions are gaining traction due to lower-than-forecast battery power density improvements. There are also other issues with hydrogen, etc., where we have seen Airbus delay its ZEROe hydrogen aircraft.

 

Of course, we are focusing on the customized Sterna solution that will power Atea. When it comes to industrialization, we might have to set some priorities between the two sides of the business, but we are not there yet.

 

Vertiflite: You are part of the French Tech 2030 mission. Do you think there is enough support and momentum in France to keep the AAM vision on track as opposed to what we have seen in other parts of Europe?

 

Lambert:

It’s really a pity to see what is happening to eVTOL projects, but also aerospace in general, in Europe. Lilium and Volocopter were at the forefront of fundraising as well as with all they achieved in their flight test programs.

 

We see China and the US still going strong, but France has a robust aviation heritage and a will to develop sustainable aviation. Thanks to our dual positioning, being a technology provider and an aircraft manufacturer, Ascendance is well supported by the French government. However, as Europeans, we need to react and show that we have ambition in this field.

Vertiflite: Have you considered an initial public offering (IPO) to raise money by going public?

 

Lambert:

Not yet, because I don’t think our project is at the right level of maturity. As we saw from some others that went this way with special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), the share value just went down. We will consider [going public] again, but when the time is right with a clearer picture of revenue streams.

 

Vertiflite: Do you have more details on the certification timeline for Atea?

 

Lambert:

We are targeting 2029 for certification. I think we have been one of the more conservative companies in this, mainly due to our strong background and experience in aerospace.

 

Vertiflite: Some comments you see on Atea are about the loss of performance due to the fans embedded in the wing. Considering your design will provide protection from bird strikes and rotorblade separation cascading failure scenarios, what is the performance penalty compared to a standard wing with the same airfoil and size?

 

Lambert:

We do not expect an aerodynamic performance penalty of more than 20–30%.

 

Vertiflite: Have you considered conventional and short takeoff and landing (CTOL and STOL) capabilities for Atea?

 

Lambert:

 

Yes, the Atea will have CTOL and STOL capability even though the aircraft is predominantly designed around the VTOL mission. We plan to test and demonstrate CTOL/STOL capability with the first prototype.

 

Vertiflite: Considering the importance of the US market, what is your plan for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification?

 

Lambert:

 

As of today, our preferred option is to benefit from the bilateral agreement between the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the FAA. I agree that the US remains an important market, and due to its size, our range will be a differentiator from our competitors. We have just recruited a sales director for the US, so clearly we are working to get a foothold in that market.

 

Vertiflite: The US is leveraging military contracts for eVTOL manufacturers. Is this something we can do in Europe?

 

Lambert:

Not to the same extent, but we might see some changes with the recent increases in defense budgets that are being considered.

 

Vertiflite: Finally, what can you say about the French market for eVTOL?

 

Lambert:

 

We have signed an LOI with Green Aerolease, which is the largest lessor of Pipistrel electric aircraft, and they operate around the Brittany coast and the islands. France is very well served with a high-speed train infrastructure, so the use cases for our aircraft will be more in markets with less developed ground transportation networks and geographical barriers.

 

About the Author

 

Alex Scerri started his aviation career in 1994 flying for Air Malta. He joined Emirates in 2006, flying several aircraft types, including the Airbus A380 as captain, and worked in the fleet technical office. He is currently flying the A350 for French Bee in Paris. He has been writing on advanced air mobility (AAM) and aviation safety since 2020, including for Vertical Magazine.