Electric division before sale: Rolls-Royce wants to get rid of the Dahlewitzer vertical takeoff plane

“Jobs at Rolls-Royce Electrical” – under this heading the engine manufacturer is looking for experts such as “Electrical Design Engineers”, “Power Electronics Management Engineers” and more on its German-language website “for our locations of Dahlewitz, Munich or Cottbus.” The company says it is developing and testing electric and hybrid systems on the way to more sustainable aviation.

However, expectations for parallel jobs at Rolls-Royce have probably dropped significantly since Wednesday (November 29). Because the boss Tufan Erginbilgic has ordered a new strategy for the group which should bring more profit.

Electrical unit sales

In the civil sector, Rolls-Royce will focus its core business on Trent (long-haul commercial aircraft) and Pearl (business aircraft) engines. Also on the development of the large Ultrafan engine, which the company may also want to prepare short and medium jets in small versions in the future.

“We are also clear about where we will not invest and where we will allocate capital to business segments,” writes Rolls-Royce. The goal is to achieve a total revenue of 1.16 to 1.74 billion euros in five years from the sale of the company’s shares. “We are exploring short-term exit options at Rolls-Royce Electrical,” it says. An alternative to a complete quick sale is to simply sell a large portion of the stock and then exit completely in the medium term.

Evtol Department in Dahlewitz

This is about an area that Rolls-Royce calls AAM or Advanced Air Mobility for short. The company’s website says: “According to estimates, around 15,000 Evtols, electric aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing, will be needed in 30 major cities by 2035.” Rolls-Royce manufactures these stocks mainly in Germany and Hungary, as a company spokesperson says.

During an aeroTELEGRAPH visit to the Evtol department in Dahlewitz, Brandenburg, Matheu Parr from Rolls-Royce Electrical said in June: “We believe that we can take the lead because we invest in different technologies and combine them.” Now senior management wants to sell this particular unit.

Work continues

At this time, the company is hiding what this means for Dahlewitz and the work there. “Work on the organizational structure” “is not yet complete and we continue to work closely with our employees and trade union representatives,” says the spokesperson. There will be an update in January 2024.

“We continue to focus on important steps, including testing of prototype propulsion units for the UAM and passenger areas, as well as the development of all work on the turbo generator system, for the defense and naval sectors,” the spokesperson continued. UAM stands for Urban Air Mobility. The Rolls-Royce City Airbus is located in this area.

2500 jobs before the end

Commuter is the name for electric regional aircraft with up to 19 seats. Rolls-Royce Partners in this area are Norwegian regional airline Widerøe and aircraft manufacturer Tecnam.

In October, Rolls-Royce boss Erginbilgic announced that he would cut up to 2,500 of the company’s 42,000 jobs worldwide. The extent to which this affects the approximately 10,000 workers in Germany was and remains unknown.