How will the low-altitude economy affect future life

People living in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hefei and other places are now looking up at the sky, and from time to time, they can see drones, unmanned aircraft, and helicopters busy: delivering food and blood, sightseeing, short commutes...

The low-flying economy is changing the landscape of our lives. How will the low-altitude economy develop in the future? Reporters recently visited many places in search of "answers to the sky."

How does low altitude achieve economy

Low altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form that relies on low altitude airspace, towed by various low altitude flight activities of manned or unmanned aircraft, and radiates the integration and development of related fields. Low-altitude airspace usually refers to the airspace within 1000 meters of the vertical distance from the ground plane directly below.

"Low-altitude airspace is a 'virgin territory' that has yet to be developed." Shen Xiangyang, founding director of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Digital Economy Research Institute, said that low-altitude airspace has a higher dimension than the ground traffic, more rich and diverse industry and application prospects, and has huge development potential and imagination space. The trillion-yuan industrial scale urgently needs to be explored and developed. In February 2021, low-altitude economy was written into the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline for the first time. In December 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to build a number of strategic emerging industries such as bio-manufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy. The fourth meeting of the Financial and Economic Commission of the CPC Central Committee held not long ago stressed the need to encourage the development of new logistics models that combine platform economy, low-altitude economy, and unmanned driving.

Han Jun, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said recently that in recent years, the Civil Aviation Administration has promoted the construction of low-altitude flight service support system, promoted the simplification of low-altitude flight plan declaration and approval, and improved the operating environment for general navigation. Support local governments in setting up 20 unmanned aviation pilot zones, and encourage enterprises to carry out pilot drone logistics delivery in Jiangxi, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places.

The reporter noted that low-altitude economy has also become the key word of multi-property industrial planning, and relevant support policies have been introduced.

Sichuan, the country's first low-altitude airspace collaborative management reform pilot province, promoted the innovation of low-altitude operation management mechanism with the low-altitude reform pilot, established a collaborative operation center, set up a low-altitude "test field", combined with "discharge management service", and simplified the approval process. In the Chengdu pilot zone, low-altitude flights have been shortened from one week before the original application to one hour before the flight.

In the 2024 government work report, Anhui Province, a pilot province for the reform of low-altitude airspace management, has made it clear that it will accelerate the development of emerging industrial clusters and the forward-looking layout of future industries, especially proposing to accelerate the construction of low-altitude economic and industrial highlands in Hefei and Wuhu, and expand the application scenarios of low-altitude products and services.

Shenzhen issued the Implementation Plan for the Innovation and Development of Low-Altitude Economy Industries in Shenzhen (2022-2025), Several Measures for Shenzhen to Support the High-quality Development of Low-altitude Economy, Regulations on the Promotion of Low-altitude Economy Industries in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, etc. From the policy, law and other aspects, it provides strong support for Shenzhen to first try to formulate civil UAV management rules and operation standards and promote the development of low-altitude economy.

Scene innovation industry acceleration

Policy, market and other favorable factors are helping China's low-altitude economy and technology continue to break through, and application scenarios continue to expand. Inadvertently, the sky has become more and more "busy".

Hefei Luogang Park was once the site of Hefei Luogang Airport. On February 24, the Lantern Festival, 12 unmanned manned aircraft EH216-S independently developed by Ehang Intelligence took to the air in Luogang Park to provide a gorgeous formation flight show for the citizens celebrating the festival.

Two months ago, the EH216-S aircraft carried passengers and completed its first commercial flight demonstration in Luogang Park. In addition to the normal operation of unmanned aircraft in Luogang Park, Hefei City also plans to open air sightseeing flight routes and services in Swan Lake and other scenic spots.

On February 27, the eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft of Fengfei Aviation Technology completed the first demonstration flight between Shenzhen and Zhuhai, reducing the ground travel time of about 2 hours to 20 minutes. According to the calculation of the operator, the use and maintenance cost of eVTOL aircraft is lower than that of helicopters, and the route will be put into commercial operation in the future, and the price is expected to be 200 to 300 yuan per passenger.

UAV occupies an important position in low-altitude economic industry, and China's UAV industry chain is mature and complete, which is a unique advantage in the development of low-altitude economy.

At the drone takeoff and landing point set up next to the central blood station in Bao 'an District, Shenzhen, Fengyi drones carrying blood and blood products took off from time to time and flew to seven hospitals, including the Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University and Songgang People's Hospital.

Liu Yongmei, director of the Blood station business department, said that since the launch of drone transport in March 2023, more than 2,000 deliveries have been made. Compared with traditional ground transportation, drone transportation is faster and more accurate; In particular, the distance from the hospital can save more than half of the time, greatly shortening the waiting time for emergency blood transport.

During the Spring Festival, the demand for food and beverage delivery rose sharply, and United Aircraft Group launched "United Fast Delivery" in Wuhu, Anhui province, to deliver New Year's Eve dinner and holiday meals by drone, bringing new experiences to consumers.

According to the "Outlook for the Development of China's UAV Industry in 2024" recently released by the CCID Research Institute, the scale of China's civilian UAV market will continue to grow in 2024 and is expected to reach 210 billion yuan.

The integration of "navigation + tourism" has also developed new business forms.

Relying on industrial advantages, Sichuan's consumer flight market is hot. Dujiangyan Chuan Association No. 1 airspace because it can "look close to Qingcheng Mountain, overlooking Dujiangyan", become the new favorite of the domestic skydiving circle. On social media, many experience videos and guides on the topic of Qingcheng Mountain skydiving have received a lot of likes. According to statistics, the number of consumer flights in Sichuan province has risen year by year, with a total of 149,000 flights and 27,700 hours, with a direct output value of more than 100 million yuan. It is estimated that the scale of China's low-altitude economy in 2023 has exceeded 500 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan in 2030. Low-altitude economy is a new track for industrial development and a new engine for economic growth, which has become the consensus of the government, industries and enterprises. At present, the low-altitude economic field is still in its infancy, and it is necessary to further improve policies and regulations, enhance safeguard measures, and strengthen market development efforts. Zhou Wenqing, vice president of Shenzhen Logistics Industry Association, believes that different from mature high-altitude flight, low-altitude airspace in the management of the main body, management mode, coordination mechanism and other aspects are lacking, it is suggested that through legislation and the introduction of corresponding policies, for the low-altitude economic and industrial development may encounter a series of issues such as coordination, control, standards, supervision and other directions.

During the visit, many enterprises and institutions admitted that the lack of safeguards is also one of the obstacles to flying high. Industry insiders said that low-altitude infrastructure is the key carrier of various low-altitude economic activities, and the construction of complete take-off and landing sites, flight service bases, ground communication facilities and digital airspace systems as soon as possible will further reduce the burden on enterprises and significantly speed up the development of low-altitude economy.

Fan Hengshan, director of the expert Steering Committee of the National low-altitude Economic Integration and Innovation Research Center, believes that on the basis of promoting institutional innovation, we should start from both sides of supply and demand, focus on industrial expansion and the improvement of product and service quality, and constantly open up the development space of low-altitude economy.

The industry believes that the development and opening up of low-altitude logistics, general aviation transportation, urban management, public services and other fields can be encouraged according to local conditions, and the application scenarios can be continuously enriched. At the same time, strengthen the guidance of consumption and use end, reduce the consumption threshold, improve the consumption experience, so that "low-altitude +" truly integrate into social production and people's lives.