The development has been clearly mentioned by the central government, and the supporting policies will be more perfect, and the low-altitude economy will accelerate its take-off in the future.
On July 21, Xinhua News Agency was authorized to broadcast the full text of the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and Promoting Chinese-style Modernization" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"). In terms of improving the system and mechanism of modern infrastructure construction, the "Decision" mentioned that a new infrastructure planning and standard system should be established, a new infrastructure integration and utilization mechanism should be improved, the digital transformation of traditional infrastructure should be promoted, diversified investment and financing channels should be broadened, and the coordination mechanism for major infrastructure construction should be improved. Deepen the reform of the comprehensive transportation system, promote the reform of the railway system, develop general aviation and low-altitude economy, and promote the optimization of toll road policies. Improve the underwriting capacity and global service level of shipping insurance, and promote the innovation of maritime arbitration system rules. Improve the construction, operation and management mechanism of major water conservancy projects.
In terms of improving the system and mechanism of developing new quality productivity in accordance with local conditions, the "Decision" mentioned that it is necessary to promote revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep transformation and upgrading of industries, promote the optimal combination and renewal of workers, labor materials, and labor objects, give birth to new industries, new models, and new momentum, and develop productivity characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. Strengthen the innovation of key common technologies, cutting-edge leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies, strengthen the supply of new fields and new tracks, establish a mechanism for the growth of future industry investment, improve the development policies and governance systems for strategic industries such as new generation information technology, artificial intelligence, aerospace, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, biomedicine, and quantum technology, and guide the healthy and orderly development of emerging industries.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration, general aviation refers to the use of civil aircraft to engage in operational flights serving industrial, agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery production and national construction, as well as flight activities such as medical care, disaster relief, marine and environmental monitoring, scientific experiments, education and training, culture, sports, and sightseeing. The so-called low-altitude economy refers to a comprehensive economic form that radiates multiple fields in the airspace below 3,000 meters, driven by low-altitude flight activities of manned and unmanned aircraft.
Once again clarified the development of low-altitude economy, and related supporting policies are constantly strengthened.
"This is the second time that the central government policy has mentioned the "low-altitude economy" after the 2024 Two Sessions included it in the government work report and defined it as a "new growth engine". This undoubtedly reaffirms the government's determination to develop the low-altitude economy, which will bring a new wave of benefits to the development of the low-altitude economy and related industries." On the evening of July 21, Huang Xiaofei, partner and senior vice president of Volant Aviation, a leading eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) company, told the reporter of The Paper.
"This "Decision" deepens the national-level positioning of general aviation and low-altitude economy, and provides more favorable policy support for the rapid development of low-altitude economy." Tan Chaochen, executive vice president and secretary-general of the Shenzhen Aviation Industry Association, told the reporter of The Paper on the evening of July 21 that the "Decision" provides certain policy guidance for the implementation of low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry, and strengthens some guarantees in policy support and rule-making.
In terms of financial capital, the Decision mentioned that relevant rules and policies should be improved, production relations that are more compatible with new productivity should be formed as soon as possible, various advanced production factors should be promoted to gather towards the development of new productivity, and total factor productivity should be greatly improved. Angel investment, venture capital, and private equity investment should be encouraged and regulated, the role of government investment funds should be better played, and patient capital should be developed.
Huang Xiaofei also pointed out to the reporter of The Paper that the Decision also mentioned that angel investment, venture capital, and private equity investment should be encouraged and regulated, the role of government investment funds should be better played, and patient capital should be developed. This is a booster for the booming low-altitude enterprises, especially for start-ups like commercial passenger eVTOL, which have a long development process and consume a lot of funds. It is conducive to raising multiple funds and better completing research and development, airworthiness and commercialization work.
Since the second half of last year, the low-altitude economy has grown into a new growth engine with an unprecedented development trend. Various localities have also successively launched various targeted support policies for low-altitude infrastructure, low-altitude industrial chain development, core technology breakthroughs, and enterprise cultivation, making every effort to create a highland for low-altitude economic development and further standardizing the industry. Since the beginning of this year, in addition to the continuous follow-up of low-altitude related plans and programs in various places, many places have also intensively launched low-altitude industry funds and established joint ventures, etc., empowering low-altitude projects and industries through real money measures.
A senior executive of the large-scale drone company Aerospace Era Feipeng told the reporter of The Paper that the content of the above-mentioned "Decision" shows that the low-altitude economy will be the key direction of the reform of the comprehensive transportation system to support the modernization of the national transportation infrastructure. In the future, "low-altitude + logistics" and "low-altitude + travel" will gradually become the new quality force of my country's comprehensive three-dimensional transportation construction, and it is an important direction for the construction of my country's modern digital infrastructure. It will be expanded and applied on a large scale to support the reform and upgrading of thousands of industries and realize the systematic reshaping and overall reconstruction of my country's air transportation infrastructure.
The senior executive further pointed out that the low-altitude economy was once again mentioned and included in the scope of transportation infrastructure, which indicates that my country will systematically guide and promote the construction of scenarios with low-altitude + logistics as typical applications at the policy and fiscal levels, and build a systematic management system in terms of route opening, route subsidies, industrial investment, talent training, operation management and supervision through market traction, and will win the initiative in the global market.
Low-altitude economy accelerates take-off: local support policies and measures are intensively introduced.
“In the past year, the intensive introduction of policies to support the low-altitude economy has pushed the development of the low-altitude economy further from the central government to the local governments.” Huang Xiaofei said that since the second half of last year, many policies have provided favorable conditions for the development of the low-altitude economy from different angles such as airspace, capital, industrial positioning, and operating time. At the same time, local governments have also actively followed up. For example, Sichuan, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other five provinces are the first batch of pilot provinces for low-altitude airspace management reform in the country; Shenzhen, Suzhou, Zigong and other provinces have also issued requirements for the construction of take-off and landing points in the next few years. These are all local government policies that will promote the development of the low-altitude economy and provide infrastructure guarantees such as airspace and take-off and landing points for the development of low-altitude economic enterprises.
According to the reporter of The Paper, based on the many years of development of domestic drones and the collective promotion of local policies, technology is no longer a threshold to curb the outbreak of the industry. The current industry is waiting for the further maturity of the supply chain and the more open policies.
Among them, airspace reform and airworthiness certification are the core keys for the low-altitude economy to "take advantage of the situation".
Talking about the policy pain points that still exist in the current development of the industry, Deng Yu, general manager of Sunward Star Aviation Industry Co., Ltd., a private general aviation high-tech enterprise, told The Paper on the evening of July 21 that the low-altitude airspace opening policy must be implemented as soon as possible to vigorously expand the space for general aviation flight activities; the "General Aviation Business License Management Regulations" did not include "experience flight" in the business scope of light sports aircraft. Experience flight can play a vital role in promoting the public to understand and participate in general aviation and promote the development of the low-altitude economy. For example, in Australia, light sports aircraft can carry out commercial flight activities such as passenger, manned, and aerial tours, which greatly promoted the development of the local aviation consumer market.
Shu Zhenjie, chief expert of the China Aerospace Research Institute, also recently pointed out that the management and utilization of low-altitude airspace resources has not achieved maximum airspace management, and the use of low-altitude airspace has not achieved flexibility. For example, my country is still implementing a four-level aviation control system of "unified control and separate command". The National Air Traffic Control Committee leads the national aviation control work, which is uniformly organized and implemented by the local military. The flight plan approval process in the low-altitude control area is slow and has not achieved flexible use. In terms of unmanned aircraft certification, since the current key technologies of unmanned aircraft such as perception and collision avoidance and intelligent driving are not fully mature, it is difficult to achieve airworthiness and commercial operation. Taking eVTOL as an example, only EHang EH216-S has obtained an airworthiness certificate, so there are problems of insufficient certification experience and difficulty in certification.
In addition, Deng Yu also pointed out that infrastructure construction is still facing restrictions. The lag in the construction of general aviation airports and camps is a major bottleneck restricting the growth of general aviation. As of December 31, 2023, there are only 449 registered general airports in the country, while the United States has more than 20,000 general airports. In addition, the size of the general aviation market is not ideal. Aviation aircraft manufacturing and aviation service operation companies are still in the development stage. The government needs to provide substantial support from the perspective of market cultivation to solve the market expansion and capital needs of enterprises.
However, as many places have mentioned in their low-altitude economic development plans, they need to open up planning, promote the construction of low-altitude route networks, and make breakthrough progress in the classification and coordinated management of low-altitude airspace. Executives of leading eVTOL companies also pointed out to The Paper that airspace reform is ongoing and the current application process is showing a trend of simplification. The current airspace resources are sufficient for the existing low-altitude economic development, but there are still challenges for the future outbreak of the trillion-dollar market, which requires further improvement of air traffic control efficiency and coordination of air traffic control technology.
It is worth noting that the current low-altitude airspace reform, airworthiness model innovation, and infrastructure expansion are all accelerating. At the press conference on July 10, Song Zhiyong, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, mentioned that the airworthiness certification system and capacity building should be strengthened, the airworthiness certification of traditional manned aircraft should be steadily promoted, the relevant technical specifications and standards of drones should be improved, and the airworthiness certification model of drones should be explored and innovated to better adapt to the airworthiness review requirements of drone research and development, design and manufacturing. In addition, Song Zhiyong also mentioned the improvement of infrastructure construction standards. In response to the new demands of the development of the low-altitude economy for the planning, layout, and functions of general airports, we will promote the improvement of the construction and operation standards of general airports, temporary landing and take-off points, and vertical landing and take-off sites, and guide and support local governments to improve infrastructure planning and construction.
