China flies high in low altitude, fosters new quality productive forces

At a park in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, a drone drop-off point has become a check-in spot for residents. People buy food and have it delivered by drones in as little as 30 minutes by just scanning a QR code.

Around 30 food delivery routes operated by drones have been set up by Chinese online platform Meituan in Shenzhen, which have facilitated over 300,000 orders so far. The service scope covers areas including office buildings, communities, scenic spots, municipal parks and campuses.

At the recent annual Central Economic Work Conference, China vowed to take steps to enable scientific and technological innovation to drive the development of new quality productive forces and build a modernized industrial system.

The low-altitude economy, including both traditional aviation businesses and production and services supported by drones, is emerging as a forerunner in the development of new quality productive forces across China. It was also written into the government work report for the first time this year.

Navigating low-altitude skies

China boasts a huge market and dense city clusters. A report by a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China shows that the sector's value reached 505.95 billion yuan (about $70.92 billion) in 2023 and is projected to surpass 1 trillion yuan by 2026.

Various aerial vehicles, such as large airships for low-altitude tourism, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for express delivery and urban transportation, as well as aerial photography and emergency rescue, are increasingly employed in China across various scenarios, proving to be effective tools for a range of activities and operations.

In February, a five-seat eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft completed its first intercity electric air-taxi demonstration flight from Shenzhen to a ferry port in the nearby city of Zhuhai. It only took the air-taxi 20 minutes to complete a journey that takes over two hours by car.

In August, a commercial passenger helicopter from an airport in Kunshan, east China's Jiangsu Province, took off for Shanghai Pudong Airport with a maximum cruising speed of nearly 200 kilometers per hour.

Meanwhile, "patrol teams" and "traffic police" conducted by drones have emerged in many cities, with advantages in areas such as accident handling, order management, traffic diversion and traffic flow detection.

By integrating BeiDou's communication technology, artificial intelligence and intelligent image recognition, around 80 percent of drones can conduct autonomous inspections, allowing inspection personnel to learn about on-site conditions without needing to visit the site.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), nearly 608,000 UAVs were newly registered in the first half of 2024, rising 48 percent from the figure registered at the end of 2023.

"The data indicates that China's low-altitude economy is entering a stage of rapid development," said Song Zhiyong, head of the CAAC.

Boosting innovation

The key economic meeting emphasized efforts to adopt forward-thinking arrangements for major technological projects, conduct large-scale demonstration for the application of new technologies, products and scenarios, launch an AI Plus initiative, nurture industries of the future, and boost China's strategic scientific and technological strengths.

The country is guiding more resources toward the low-altitude economy. At present, about 30 provinces have either included the development of low-altitude economy in their local government work reports or issued relevant policies.

As an important industrial support for the low-altitude economy, general aviation has developed for more than 70 years and moved toward being more market-oriented.

In March, China released an implementation plan on innovative application of general aviation equipment, which was jointly released by four government bodies, including the CAAC and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

It laid out a series of time-bound major goals for the development of general aviation equipment sector. By 2027, the sector's supply capacity and innovation capability will be significantly improved, with a highly effective integrated industrial ecology taking shape.

By 2030, a new development model for the general aviation sector will be basically established, characterized by high-end, intelligent and green transformation.

"The low-altitude economy can not only achieve its own development, but also cultivate new business forms and drive emerging industries, becoming a new economic growth point," said Sun Weiguo, an official at the China Air Transport Association.