Drone delivery, general-purpose plane tour of Huangshan, hundreds of acres of plant protection work easily done by one drone … In recent years, with the accelerated application of low-altitude flight, the low-altitude economy has accelerated its integration into all walks of life, and the market scale has accelerated, which has attracted more and more attention.
At the National People’s Congress in 2024, the "low-altitude economy" was written into the government work report for the first time, relevant policies were intensively introduced, the certainty of industry development was further enhanced, "low-altitude flight" was fully integrated into people’s production and life, and a new trillion-dollar market was opening.
China Low-altitude Economic Development Research Report (2024) released by CCID Research Institute of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on April 1st shows that the low-altitude economy in China will reach 505.95 billion yuan in 2023, with a growth rate of 33.8%. It is optimistically predicted that by 2026, the scale of low-altitude economy is expected to exceed one trillion yuan.
a sword takes ten years to come into being
Towards the highland of development
In Wuhu Aviation Industrial Park, in the factory area of Anhui Jiuzi Aviation Research Institute Co., Ltd., all kinds of drones are filled with factories, and workers are busy assembling drones.
Jia Liwei, the person in charge of the enterprise, told the reporter that when they entered the park in 2019, they were still a small and micro start-up enterprise, mainly making controllers. In recent years, relying on the industrial agglomeration advantage of Wuhu Aviation Industrial Park, the supporting capacity of upstream and downstream industrial chains has been enhanced, enterprises have developed rapidly, and they have entered the whole machine market in an all-round way. Last year, the output value was more than 60 million yuan.
Wuhu is the earliest city in our province with low-altitude economy. In 2013, Wuxuan Airport and aviation industry settled in the Bay Area of Wuhu City. After ten years of development and accumulation, Wuhu has now become a highland of low-altitude economic development in China. At present, the core area of Wuhu Aviation Industry Park has gathered nearly 150 projects, including complete machine, satellite manufacturing, aero-engine, propeller, avionics and flight control system, simulator, aviation components, aviation materials, aviation operation, education and training, maintenance and support, covering the whole upstream and downstream industrial chain from complete machine, satellite, drone and engine to comprehensive maintenance and operation support, basically achieving "a domestic general-purpose aircraft can be produced without leaving the park". Nine national and 43 provincial-level scientific and technological innovation platforms have settled in the park, and Wuxuan Airport has opened a total of 33 cities and opened 6 cargo flights.
With the "low-altitude economy" written into the government work report for the first time this year, relevant policies around the low-altitude economy have also been introduced in the near future, and the low-altitude economy has ushered in the development trend.
As a strategic emerging industry, low-altitude economy not only includes the traditional general aviation format, but also integrates the low-altitude production service mode supported by drones, in which the general aviation (including drones) industry is an important engine for the development of low-altitude economy.
According to the "Implementation Plan for Innovative Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030)" jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments recently, by 2030, general aviation equipment will be fully integrated into all fields of people’s production and life, becoming a powerful driving force for low-altitude economic growth and forming a trillion-dollar market scale.
As a pilot province of low-altitude airspace management reform in the whole region, Anhui seized the opportunity, accelerated the layout of low-altitude economic track, and accelerated the formation of new quality productivity. According to the latest statistics, in 2023, Anhui set up 54 low-altitude pilot airspace and opened 43 low-altitude routes, with general aircraft flying nearly 9,700 hours and drones flying 1.44 million hours.
The reporter learned from the Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation that at present, Anhui Province has gathered more than 300 enterprises including Navigation Holding Group, CLP diamond aircraft, Yihang Intelligent, Yingliu Airlines, etc., initially forming an industrial structure with Hefei and Wuhu as the dual cores and Anqing, Lu ‘an and Xuancheng as the multi-support points, and the scale of low-altitude economy has exceeded 40 billion yuan.
Expand application scenarios
Multi-track layout
Application is a catalyst for the development of emerging industries.
On March 28th, the engine rumbled on the apron of Feidong Bailong Airport, and a Cessna 208 plane landed smoothly. So far, the airport’s total guaranteed flights exceeded 10,000 flights.
Feidong Bailong Airport covers an area of 643 mu, with 22 parking spaces. It is the largest A1-class general airport with the most complete guarantee facilities in our province. Since the official sailing in July 2023, two low-altitude routes from Hefei to Huangshan and from Hefei to Zhenjiang have been opened, and more than 10 navigation enterprises have been signed, involving short-distance transportation, emergency rescue, aviation driver’s license training, aviation science popularization, flight experience, drone flight test and other fields of business, and the business format has been continuously enriched.
According to the recently approved "Plan for Designing Low-altitude Airspace Routes in Anhui Province in 2024", three new low-altitude routes were added in Anhui this year. A total of 21 low-altitude airspace and 18 low-altitude routes were approved in the province.
The application of low-altitude flight has accelerated, and the low-altitude economy is "heating up" in Anhui.
"Application is the best development, develop a low-altitude economy, and fly to get hot!" According to the person in charge of Feidong Bailong Airport, Feidong Bailong Airport has continuously expanded its application service scenarios. At present, it can provide a variety of services such as UAV flight test, aerial mapping, short-distance transportation, shadow operation, aerial tour, emergency rescue, aerial geophysical exploration, air sports, commercial charter flights, aviation science popularization, agriculture and forestry plant protection, etc.
Wuhu City is also accelerating the application of low-altitude flight. Gao Yu, director of the Office of Aviation Industry Development Service Center in Bayou District, Wuhu City, told the reporter that Wuhu has opened fixed routes for short-distance passenger transportation to Huangshan, Jiande and Shangrao, and has approved 12 batches of temporary airspace, 19 temporary take-off and landing points and more than 20 temporary routes. Sixteen navigation operators have carried out 12 operational services in the fields of sightseeing, emergency rescue, meteorological detection and urban management, and made every effort to build a national pioneering area for low-altitude economic development and strive to open up within five years.
EVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft) is one of the most popular track in low-altitude economy. At the World Manufacturing Congress held in Hefei last year, eVTOL brought by modern technology was unveiled, which attracted the attention of many participants.
This kind of pure electric vehicle that can take off and land vertically is regarded as the new development direction of three-dimensional intelligent transportation in the future. Huang Yongwei, founder and CEO of Science and Technology at that time, said in an interview that compared with helicopters, eVTOL is more suitable for flying over cities because of its pure electricity, pollution-free, low noise, high safety and no runway, and is accelerating its commercialization.
In October 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments jointly issued the Outline for the Development of Green Aviation Manufacturing Industry (2023-2035), proposing that by 2025, electric navigable aircraft will be put into commercial application and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) will be put into pilot operation; By 2035, a green aviation manufacturing system with integrity, advancement and safety will be built, and new energy aircraft will become the mainstream of development.
Whole industrial chain layout
Continuously optimize industrial ecology
According to the Action Plan for High-quality Development of Low-altitude Economy in Wuhu City (2023-2025), by 2025, the number of enterprises related to low-altitude economy in Wuhu will strive to exceed 300, and the output value of low-altitude industry is expected to reach 50 billion yuan. Breakthroughs in key core technologies will be achieved in aviation equipment, aviation materials and master control chips, and the localization rate of domestic core components will exceed 90%. By then, the low-altitude economy will become the strong growth pole of Wuhu’s development!
"Wuhu will seize the strategic opportunity period of intensive innovation and rapid development of the current low-altitude economy industry, accelerate the construction of a national-level low-altitude economy future industrial pilot zone, and foster the formation of new quality productivity." Gao Yu said, we should focus on strengthening industrial chains, supplementing and extending them, and promote central enterprises, head enterprises and large airlines to establish manufacturing bases in Wuhu, so as to form agglomeration effect through leading enterprises.
Anhui Navigation Group anchored the new track of low-altitude industry and fully laid out the low-altitude industry system. Promote the integration and development of three provincial public service platforms: provincial low-altitude flight service, provincial aviation emergency rescue, and provincial low-altitude drone management and service, and continue to consolidate the technical base of low-altitude industries. Start the major project of low-altitude comprehensive application industrialization of Beidou in Anhui Province with an investment of 320 million yuan, speed up the layout to form a low-altitude Zhilian network, and contribute to the scientific and technological innovation and low-altitude industrial development in Anhui Province.
When the low-altitude economy "flies", it is necessary to make up for the shortcomings of infrastructure, promote the construction of general airports and temporary landing points, and adapt to the needs of low-altitude economic development as soon as possible.
It is understood that there are currently three general airports in operation in the province; Six general airports are under construction, and the preliminary work of more than 20 general airports is progressing in an orderly manner, initially forming a general airport network pattern with Hefei, the provincial capital, as the center and cities and counties in the province as the fulcrum.
Wuhu strengthens the construction of low-altitude infrastructure, and plans to lay out more than 30 temporary take-off and landing sites, 1 to 2 fixed operating bases and build more than 2 aviation flight camps in important locations such as hospitals within the scope of Wuhu. At the same time, relying on the Low-altitude Economic Research Institute to promote the low-altitude Zhilian project, and taking Bay Area and Chengdong New District as the pioneering areas to carry out pilot projects, and gradually form a low-altitude Zhilian network covering the whole city.
Let the low-altitude flight "fly" as soon as possible, it is necessary to further improve the airworthiness certification capability, explore innovative airworthiness certification modes for drones, and better adapt to the airworthiness review needs required for low-altitude economic development.
Previously, Luo Hongjiang, deputy director of the Air Traffic Control Industry Management Office of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that in order to integrate into the national airspace system safely and efficiently, it is necessary to continuously improve the low-altitude flight service support system and enhance the low-altitude navigation service support capability.
In the next step, the Civil Aviation Administration will focus on accelerating the construction of low-altitude flight service guarantee system and cooperate with relevant departments to promote the pilot experience of airspace classification and low-altitude airspace management reform; Accelerate the construction of service stations with local governments and implement "one-stop service"; Constantly optimize and improve the low-altitude navigation service system and capabilities, strengthen the operational coordination between manned aircraft and drones, and escort the healthy development of low-altitude economy.
(Reporter Fan Kelong)
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