A revolution in transport

A Meituan drone delivers take -out dishes in a shopping center in Shenzhen, August 21, 2024.

The economy of low altitude, whether inhabited or unmanned aircraft in airspace at less than 1,000 m, or even up to 3,000 m in special cases, reached new heights with the progressive development of the drones sector, which announces a revolution in transport.

According to the research report on the development of the low -altitude economy in China (2024), published by the CCID Consulting in April 2024, the civilian drones market represented 117.43 billion yuan in 2023, up 32 % compared to the previous year. In 2023, the low -altitude economy had reached 505.95 billion yuan (+33.8 %). The manufacture of low -altitude aircraft and operating services contributed the most to the sector, with a share of almost 55 %.

Drones go up a gear

On July 10, 2024, during a press conference on the theme “Promoting high -quality development” organized by the Information Office of the Council of State Affairs, Song Zhiyong, Director of the Civil Aviation Administration in China (CAAC), revealed that there were currently more than 14,000 companies with civilian drone operations, and more than 225,000 people with drone operator licenses country.

Behind these figures hides growing market demand. According to Jiang Youqi, CEO of Chongqing Haocang Technology, drone technology attracts an increasing number of users and is used in many sectors, for example, that of transporting suspended loads. “Drones have very diverse applications. In the past two months, we have formed some television cameramen on the use of drones at work. »»

Drones are in great demand on the market. A live broadcast presenter in the field of e-commerce said that among the products he promoted, drones were the most sold. “I am currently using drones to attract the public. Normally, we manage to sell 100 drones in one minute, “he notes, adding that he was selling cheap drones for photography that many customers buy as toys.

According to CAAC statistics, nearly 608,000 new drones were recorded in the first half of 2024, an increase of 48 % compared to the end of the previous year. Cumulative drone flight hours reached 9.82 million hours, an increase of 134,000 hours compared to the same period of the previous year.

In addition to the continuous expansion of the drone market, several industrial drone clusters have also been created nationally. For example, the city of Wuhu (Anhui), one of the first national demonstration areas integrated in the general aviation sector, brings together more than 200 companies covering the entire industrial chain in this sector. In the insular province of Hainan, this sector is also developing quickly, and activities such as low -altitude air tourism and short distance transport are booming.

Other provinces have followed suit, taking measures in this direction. The province of Guizhou, in southwest China, supports the test bases in flight, while the Jiangxi province encourages research on the operating and maintenance systems of intelligent electric power plants without human intervention. Inspired by this trend, many cities have highlighted sectors of activity. A spokesperson for the Zigong Aeronautical Industrial Park (Sichuan) said that on August 12, 2024, the city had tested its independently developed aircraft, which has a loading space of 12 m3 and a loading capacity of two metric tonnes. The aircraft tested successfully can perform more than 90 % of general transport tasks with one click, which makes it possible to create a new scenario of intelligent logistics.

Drones and their potential in terms of application have instilled a strong renewed optimism in the future of the low -altitude economy.

Luo Jun, Executive Director of the Chinese Alliance of the Basse Altitude economy and secretary general of the Global Economy for Low Altitude forum, stresses that all the China regions work together to develop the economy of low altitude, and that all the necessary resources converge in this sector, in particular in drones. According to data published by the CAAC, the low -altitude economy should also reach 1,500 billion yuan in 2025 and 3,500 billion yuan by 2035.

Balloon boards flying over Lichuan, in the prefecture Tujia and Miao d’Anshi (Hubei), on February 8, 2025, show the popularity of tourism in low altitude during the spring festival.

A reproducible economic model

Why are drones so popular? Mr. Luo believes that drone technology in China, very mature and benefiting from a developed industrial ecosystem, offers a largely reproducible economic model. Mr. Jiang shares his opinion, noting that the number of people learning to use small and medium -sized drones has doubled compared to two years ago and that more and more people use drones for photography, agriculture and industrial inspection.

“This is a sign that the drone market is more and more mature,” said Luo. According to him, only large and medium -sized functional drones will fly over long distances in the future, and drones will evolve towards models with increased autonomy, greater load capacity and more specialized functions.

This trend also follows that of aviation inhabited in the field of low -altitude economy. For example, the development of the drone market has brought opportunities to electric aircraft with vertical take -off and landing (Evtol). He Tianxing, vice-president of Ehang, says that his Evtol have already taken foot in the world markets. For example, the Spanish national police are now a client. Ehang also cooperates with the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia and discusses with the National Civil Aviation Agency in Brazil on the opening of the country’s low -altitude airspace.

He specifies that in recent years, more than 300 inhabited aircraft, sold at 400,000 dollars, have been delivered, adding that his order book is filling. The company’s next strategic objective is to penetrate the Latin American market. “In the Middle East, American companies and Ehang share the market. In Europe, we have also consolidated our position. Then we will exploit the potential of Latin American countries like Costa Rica. »»

Realism and prudence are essential

The spectacular boom in the drone sector raises concerns about excessive development.

An investor revealed that he had received an order from Pakistan worth more than 100 million yuan, but his production capacity was insufficient. Therefore, he hopes to cooperate with other companies. He noted that many companies in the sector were in fact assembly factories, and that factories that really participate in the production of high precision components are still the suppliers of large drone manufacturers.

According to Mr. Luo, China has no marked advantages in the field of large and medium -sized drones, including military and special drones. Intense competition in the low threshold sectors has led many large drone companies in China to operate at a loss.

Mr. Luo specifies that if the mainstream drone market in China is relatively large, the technological content of these is not very high. Many redundant investments have flocked in this segment, limiting itself to simple assembly activities. But the real challenge lies in R&D, in particular to improve autonomy and load capacity.

“The orientation of the measures is also a factor to take into account,” explains Mr. Luo. And to estimate that more mature government measures are necessary. “Many local governments have set themselves the objective of promoting a sector of drones of several tens of billions of yuan, but to achieve it, you must first make large -scale drone flights. For example, a city said one day that coffee orders could be quickly delivered by drone. However, without sufficient infrastructure and large -scale application scenarios, the cost of transporting a cup of coffee reaches thousands of yuan. Who would spend such a sum for a cup of coffee? Asked Mr. Luo. To guarantee transport safety, according to him, it is necessary to have a large mesh of technical support on the ground, possibly with vehicles to follow the drones.

Consequently, lifting control of the airspace in China is not limited to a simple declaration of flight plan to the competent authorities. According to Mr. Luo, the situation of air traffic is much more complex than that on the ground, and more complete traffic rules, which therefore requires corresponding traffic management facilities.

Can low altitude economy be managed in the same way as civil aviation? The answer seems to be negative.

In fact, there is a fundamental difference between a low altitude flight and a flight from civil aviation. According to Mr. Luo, unmanned aircraft generally fly a few hundred meters above the ground and a few tens of kilometers away. They are supplied mainly by lithium batteries, while the flight distance from high altitude civil aviation is several thousand kilometers with traditional fuels. The positioning technology used and the security requirements are therefore completely different.

According to an initiate in the telecommunications sector, millions of drones could fly over a megalopolis every minute in the future, hence the importance of the regulations. The opening of the airspace must be accompanied by an improvement in communications technologies to avoid frequent collisions between drones.

There are indeed many restrictions in the economy of low altitude, but they did not affect the imagination of the application scenarios of drones. Mr. Luo is very optimistic about the formulation of rules and the construction of infrastructure in China. “Two years will be enough for the commercial use of drones,” he plans.

He Tianxing indicates that low -altitude point transport made it possible to reduce time and costs. If it is generalized, it will also be possible to save labor.

Mr. Luo presents a scenario in which unmanned aircraft could be used to transport supplies between hospitals. For example, the hospital roof could be transformed into a drone platform, where emergency drugs, blood pockets and patients could be quickly taken care of by drones, while today, many hospitals use traditional helicopters, which are noisy, expensive and almost impossible to use on a regular basis.

*Shi Qingchuan is a journalist at China Economic Weekly.