Chinese eVTOL firm aims to offer affordable flights, in boost for low-altitude economy

Chinese start-up Autoflight Aviation Technology (Autoflight) said travel by its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft will be an affordable service, aiming to bring the emerging transportation mode closer to most people's lives.

Xie Jia, senior vice president of Autoflight, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the unit price of its eVTOL service between Shenzhen and Zhuhai in South China's Guangdong Province will be reduced to 6 yuan ($0.84) per kilometer per person.

"It is expected that after the commercial operation is scaled up, the cost of a single seat from Shenzhen to Zhuhai via our eVTOL aircraft, a distance of 50 kilometers, will be 300 yuan," he said, adding that the journey takes 20 minutes by aircraft compared to about 150 minutes by car.

In the first half of 2024, China's number of newly registered drones surpassed 600,000, up by 48 percent from the level at the end of 2023, official data showed, and over 14,000 enterprises have been granted an operation license for civil unmanned aerial vehicles at present.

Aside from diversifying people's transportation methods, unmanned aerial vehicles are now widely used in delivery services.

China Media Group (CMG) reported on Thursday that drones have been used in delivering university admission letters in Guangzhou this year. Also in April 2024, China-made civil drones commenced cargo delivery services on Mount Qomolangma at an altitude of 6,000 meters, which greatly shortened the previous eight-hour delivery time to 12 minutes.

China's 2024 Government Work Report listed fostering the low-altitude economy as an emerging industry and a new growth engine. The resolution adopted by the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China also emphasized developing the low-altitude economy as part of efforts to modernize infrastructure.

China now has over 70,000 low-altitude economy enterprises nationwide, and the market size is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan in 2030, CMG reported.