To increase the number of low-altitude flyable airspaces, the Civil Aviation Administration of China: Will cooperate with relevant departments to carry out pilot reform of airspace classification and low-altitude airspace management
In the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, drones automatically complete city inspection tasks according to designated routes; at the Yanzi Lake Convention and Exhibition Center in Pingshan, Shenzhen, passengers can arrive at Futian CBD in 10 minutes after taking an "air taxi"...
As a strategic emerging industry in global competition, the "low-level economy", which was written into the government work report for the first time this year, is accelerating its integration into all walks of life, profoundly changing people's production and life, and the market size continues to grow. According to estimates, the scale of my country's low-altitude economy is expected to exceed one trillion yuan in 2026.
A helicopter from Eastern General Aviation prepares to land at the Greater China Heliport in downtown Shenzhen. Photo by reporter Mao Siqian
The low-altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form that is driven by the low-altitude flight activities of manned and unmanned aircraft and radiates the integrated development of related fields. Covering various industries such as aircraft R&D and manufacturing, low-altitude flight infrastructure construction and operation, and flight service guarantee.
Developing a low-altitude economy, in layman’s terms, means building “roads” to “low-altitude” areas. On this new "road", there will also be "cars on the road", "people driving cars" and industries that develop because of the "road".
"Low-altitude airspace with a vertical height of less than 1,000 meters breeds broad development space." Qin Rui, director of the Low-altitude Economy and Low-altitude Transportation Research Center of the Civil Aviation University of China, said that for the low-altitude economy to "fly", it first depends on the openness of low-altitude airspace resources.
In 2010, the State Council and the Central Military Commission issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of my country's Low-Altitude Airspace Management", which kicked off the development of low-altitude resources and promoted the development of navigation.
In February 2021, the low-altitude economy was included in the "National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline" for the first time; in December 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference included the low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry; this year's National Two Sessions, the low-altitude economy was regarded as a "new growth "Engine" was written into the government work report, and its importance has become increasingly prominent.
In recent years, driven by market demand and policy support, traditional navigation operations such as agriculture, forestry, plant protection, and power inspections involved in the low-altitude economy have maintained steady growth. New business formats such as air tours, aviation sports, and medical rescue are also accelerating.
Data shows that as of the end of 2023, there are more than 1.26 million drones in my country, a year-on-year increase of about 32%; there are 690 registered general aviation companies nationwide, 2.5 times the number in 2015. In 2023, the scale of my country's low-altitude economy will exceed 500 billion yuan.
In January, my country's independently developed AG60E electric aircraft successfully made its first flight; in February, the five-seater eVTOL aircraft Shengshilong flew from Shenzhen to Zhuhai for the first time; at the end of March, the domestic civilian manned airship "Xiangyun" AS700 completed its first transfer flight... Since the beginning of this year, new things in the low-altitude economic field have continued to attract attention.
At the same time, many places in the country are seizing opportunities for industrial development and opening up new space for low-level economic development.
In Chongqing, a pilot city for low-altitude airspace management reform, general aviation companies are accelerating the layout of the entire industry chain from the R&D and manufacturing of aircraft engines and drones to operational services and satellite applications, covering logistics and distribution, urban governance, air commuting, emergency rescue, etc. Scenes.
In Shenzhen, the "city of drones", the low-altitude economic software and hardware foundation and supporting facilities have been improved. Enterprises are actively deploying terminal transfer nodes, community-level drone take-off and landing sites, low-altitude economic facility networks, air networks, route networks, and services. The construction of the "four networks" of the Internet has been accelerated.
CCID Consulting, a research institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released a report in April predicting that the scale of my country's low-altitude economy is expected to exceed one trillion yuan in 2026.
In March this year, the unmanned ton-level electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft independently developed by Fengfei Aviation obtained the type certificate issued by the East China Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China, laying the foundation for large-scale commercial operations.
The reporter learned that in order to promote the healthy development of the low-altitude economy, relevant national departments have launched a series of supporting policies and reform and innovation measures focusing on equipment innovation, airport construction, access management, service guarantee and other aspects. Among them, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has approved the establishment of 17 civil unmanned aviation test zones and 3 test bases, covering cities, islands, regional logistics, comprehensive application expansion and other scenarios.
Industry insiders said that my country's low-altitude economy has begun to take shape and has good development momentum. As a strategic emerging industry, it is inevitable to face some "growing pains."
"The low-altitude economy is born from flying, and safety is the bottom line for development." Jin Wei, deputy secretary-general of the China UAV Industry Innovation Alliance, said that the quality of low-altitude aircraft is crucial, and it is necessary to accelerate the construction of low-cost, high-reliability, high-performance, and high-safety aircraft. The low-altitude equipment product system must be further optimized and improved in airworthiness certification, safety supervision, and standard formulation, so that low-altitude aircraft can be "visible, breathable, and controllable."
Not long ago, a manned aircraft took off from Chongqing Longxing General Airport to Zigong, Sichuan. The first demonstration flight of the cross-provincial low-altitude visual route between Sichuan and Chongqing was successful. In the next step, the two sides will jointly build and share common aviation information, low-altitude weather information, etc., and scientifically allocate low-altitude airspace resources to allow more aircraft to fly safely.
"Low-altitude airspace resources involve multiple departments and are the basic resources for the development of low-altitude economy. Their openness and utilization rate are related to the long-term development of low-altitude economy." Ping Songrui, deputy director of the Equipment Department of Chongqing Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission, said that low-altitude airspace management Reform pilots have been carried out steadily and have continued to bear fruit. As low-altitude flight activities gradually increase, there is room for further improvement of the low-altitude airspace collaborative management system.
Reporters conducted surveys in some places and found that the current low-altitude economic industry is developing rapidly in the manufacturing link, while security, service and other links are relatively weak. Some places have built low-altitude economic industrial parks, targeting fields such as drone manufacturing. However, due to the lack of relevant supporting facilities and incomplete policies, large-scale demonstration applications and commercial development of new products and new technologies are subject to certain constraints.
During the New Year's Day of 2024, nearly 10,000 drones of Yifei Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd. performed formation flight performances in more than 30 cities at home and abroad, lighting up the night sky and also driving sales.
"For technology-based companies, finding matching application scenarios for technology is the primary factor for product launch." Qi Juntong, chairman of the company, suggested that factors such as airspace, market, technology, policy and safety should be coordinated to explore and promote more applications in an orderly manner. Scenario, steadily promote the development of low-altitude economy.
Industry insiders believe that it is necessary to better coordinate development and safety, strengthen policy support and safety guarantees in terms of airspace management, flight approval, supporting facility construction, regulations and standards systems, etc., and develop the low-altitude economy according to local conditions.
It is worth noting that some interviewed companies stated that with the rapid growth in the number of low-altitude aircraft and routes, some low-altitude airspace has become somewhat "congested" and may have certain hidden dangers.
The relevant person in charge of the Civil Aviation Administration of China stated that they will cooperate with relevant departments to carry out pilot reforms of airspace classification and low-altitude airspace management, increase the number of low-altitude flyable airspaces; jointly strengthen the construction of service guarantee systems for low-altitude flight activities, and continue to improve the plan approval and air traffic control of low-altitude flight activities. , meteorological, communication, surveillance and other service guarantees.
The person in charge said that in response to the new demands for infrastructure caused by the development of the low-altitude economy, the construction and operation standards of general airports will be further improved, and the construction of general airports and temporary take-off and landing points will be promoted; airworthiness certification capabilities will be improved, and aircraft airworthiness standards and certification will be optimized. Patterns and Technologies. At the same time, the safety supervision system for low-altitude flights is iteratively upgraded.
With many places stepping up their efforts to deploy low-level economies, how to avoid "rushing in" and homogeneous competition?
"The Sichuan and Chongqing regions are rich in tourism resources, have great demand and potential for low-altitude tourism, and have a wide range of emergency rescue scenarios. They will become the focus and highlight of the development of low-altitude economy in the two places in the future." Executive Deputy Director of the Chongqing Near Space Innovation R&D Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Wang Quanbao said that for local governments, it is necessary to base on local resource endowments, grasp people's livelihood needs, highlight scene characteristics, and rely on industrial foundations to determine the direction of low-level economic development. Guide technology, capital, talent and other element resources to effectively gather in key enterprises, enhance the modernization level of the industrial chain, drive local economic development, and create local business cards.
Wang Quanbao said that to develop the low-altitude economy, we must strive for speed and endurance. We must sit on the bench and concentrate on researching key equipment core technologies and low-altitude intelligent connectivity technologies, and innovate application scenarios according to the needs of economic and social development.
Experts suggest that we should continue to improve the regulatory and standard system, promote the coordinated development of national standards, industry standards, and group standards, and encourage leading companies to drive upstream and downstream companies to jointly carry out standards research. Build an industrial standard system that runs through the entire life cycle of low-altitude equipment R&D, design, manufacturing, testing and verification, and operation support to safeguard the orderly development of the low-altitude economy.
"The low-altitude economy has huge demand and high requirements for talents in cutting-edge emerging cross-field fields such as general aviation." Qin Rui said that at present, the training of compound and cross-disciplinary talents in the low-altitude economic field in my country is still in the exploratory stage. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of relevant disciplines and deepen industry and education. Integration promotes the joint and precise talent cultivation of universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises to help the low-altitude economy flourish.
