[News Terms] "The person who ordered hotpot at the Great Wall"... China accelerates 'low-altitude economy'

Drone Delivery, Air Taxi Commutes, and Emergency Rescue
Integration of Various Industrial Policies with the Low Altitude Economy
2024 Set to Mark the First Year of Growth for China's Low Altitude Economy

'Low Altitude Economy' or 'Jeogong (低空) Economy' refers to a complex form of economy where various industries converge and develop through low-altitude flight activities using manned and unmanned aerial vehicles as carriers.

Through the low altitude economy, one can imagine drones delivering hot pot or coffee to tourists at the Great Wall, and office workers commuting in the sky by air taxi. The Chinese government is recently accelerating the development of the low altitude economy, which collectively refers to industries utilizing drones and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in airspace below 1000 meters.

In 2021, China included the low altitude economy in its national plan for the first time in the 'Outline of the National Comprehensive 3D Transportation Network Plan.' The scope, which was mainly applied for military use, began to expand to a three-party collaborative management involving the military, local governments, and the private sector.

In March last year, during the annual major political event Yanghui (the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), the low altitude economy was mentioned for the first time in the government work report, emerging as a representative new qualitative productive force. The government work report announced that the modernization of the industrial system and the low altitude economy would be "nurtured as a new growth engine." Local governments are as interested as the central government. In the local Yanghui work reports, more than 20 local governments, including Guangdong Province, Jiangsu Province, and Sichuan Province?top regions in China's 2023 Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP)?mentioned the development of the low altitude economy.

The implemented delivery drone [Photo by AI Image]

China's state broadcaster CCTV reported early last year through a special report that "2024 will be the inaugural year of China's low altitude economy growth."

China's low altitude economy has grown rapidly since the end of Yanghui. According to statistics from Saidi Consulting under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, as of September last year, the number of companies related to China's low altitude economy exceeded 50,000, including 118 listed companies. The government's policy support has also yielded results. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued a type certificate (aircraft technical standard conformity certification) for the four-seat electric aircraft 'RX4E' this month. China's first single-seat electric aircraft 'AnTGOne,' with a maximum payload of over 200 kg, is scheduled to enter mass production in March.

The Chinese government plans to integrate various industrial policies with the low altitude economy for application. In agriculture, it is improving the quality of life for its citizens by developing various fields such as cultivation and monitoring using drones, emergency rescue, distribution and logistics, and mobility. If policies are fully implemented and commercialized, it is highly likely to emerge as the next-generation food source. The scale of China's low altitude economy exceeded 670 billion yuan (134.67 trillion won) last year and is expected to surpass 1 trillion yuan (201 trillion won) by 2026 and 2 trillion yuan (372 trillion won) by 2030.