China trials low-altitude cargo drones and air taxis

Beijing — Engineers sent China’s biggest-yet cargo drone on a test run over the weekend, while a helicopter taxi took to the skies on a soon-to-open 100km route to Shanghai, laying new milestones for the country’s expanding low-altitude economy.

Packing a payload capacity of 2-tonnes, the twin-engine cargo drone developed by state-funded Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co took off in southwestern Sichuan province on Sunday for its inaugural flight, which lasted about 20 minutes, state media reported.

The Tengden-built drone, with a wingspan of 16.1m and a height of 4.6m, is slightly larger than the world’s most popular light aircraft, the four-seat Cessna 172.

Manufacturers in the world’s top drone-making nation are testing ever larger payloads, while transport companies are planning air taxi services both manned and unmanned as China loosens airspace curbs and grants incentives to build up a low-altitude economy. Its aviation regulator foresees a 2-trillion yuan ($279bn) industry by 2030, for a four-fold expansion from 2023.

The Tengden trial run followed the maiden flight in June of a cargo drone developed by state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC), the leading aerospace enterprise.

The AVIC’s HH-100 has a payload capacity of 700kg and a flight radius of 520km. Next year, AVIC plans to test its biggest cargo drone, the TP2000, which can carry up to 2-tonnes of cargo and fly four times farther than the HH-100.

China has already begun commercial deliveries by drone. In May, cargo drone firm Phoenix Wings, part of delivery giant SF Express, started delivering fresh fruit from the island province of Hainan to southern Guangdong using Fengzhou-90 drones developed by SF, a unit of SF Holding.

Cargo drones promise shorter delivery times and lower transport costs, Chinese industry insiders say, while widening deliveries to sites lacking conventional aviation facilities, such as rooftop spaces in heavily built-up cities.

They could also ferry people on taxi services.

In April, aviation authorities issued a production certificate to unmanned aerial vehicle maker EHang Holdings, based in the southern city of Guangzhou, for its passenger-carrying drone, China’s first such certification for an autonomous passenger drone.

In a report this year, the government identified the low-altitude economy as a new growth engine for the first time, with vertical mobility seen as a “new productive force” in areas such as passenger and cargo transport.

On Saturday, a manned commercial passenger helicopter took off for the first time from Kunshun, a city in Jiangsu province, to Shanghai Pudong Airport, state media said.

For one-way fares of up to 1,800 yuan, Shanghai NewSky Heli Co aims to cut travel time between the cities to 20 minutes from several hours. As many as 30,000 passengers a year are forecast to use the route, which opens on August 18.

Shanghai aims to expand low-altitude routes to cover other cities in the Yangtze River delta.

Reuters