Recently, at the Feiyue China Low altitude Economy Leading Forum, He Tianxing, Vice President of Yihang Intelligence, stated that transportation and logistics will be the core direction for the low altitude economy to move towards a trillion dollar market size. The characteristics of eVTOL, such as vertical takeoff and landing, green environmental protection, intelligent unmanned flight, and digital cluster management, are not only in line with the development direction of new quality productivity, but also an important carrier for achieving large-scale commercial applications of low altitude economy.
Yihang Intelligence is a leading enterprise in the global electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) and low altitude economy fields. The flagship product EH216-S unmanned manned aerial vehicle independently developed by Yihang Intelligence has successively obtained the model qualification certificate, production license, and standard airworthiness certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, becoming the world's first and currently the only manned eVTOL model that integrates the "three airworthiness certificates".
The latest financial report released by Yihang Intelligence shows that the company's revenue for the second quarter of 2024 was 102 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 919.6%, reaching a historic high. He Tianxing introduced that the Civil Aviation Administration of China has officially accepted the application for Operation Certificate (OC) submitted by the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Yihang Navigation, which specializes in urban air traffic (UAM) operation services, and its joint venture operating company Hefei Heyi Airlines in Hefei. At present, the regulatory review team has completed the document review work and will conduct on-site review in Hefei. It is expected that the world's first OC will be approved within this year. This also means that the world's first manned eVTOL operation standard system is about to be born, and the curtain of China's low altitude economic unmanned driving manned commercial operation is about to begin.
The mission and goal of Yihang Intelligence is for everyone to enjoy safe, automated, and environmentally friendly air transportation. The company is relying on unmanned aerial vehicles to create various application scenarios, and has taken the lead in achieving a full ecological layout of low altitude economy for manned cargo. He Tianxing stated that manned eVTOLs will be widely used in air tourism, urban sightseeing, transportation connections, emergency rescue, and other scenarios, forming a new low altitude scene ecology and promoting the emergence of a new business model of "air taxis", which will provide the public with a safe, efficient, and convenient urban low altitude travel service. It is expected that in the next 2 to 3 years, it will be possible to book an "air taxi" with a mobile phone, and the 30 kilometer "air life circle" will also enter daily life and fly into ordinary people's homes.
As a new growth engine, the low altitude economy will form a new industrial ecosystem of 'Tianluo+Ground Grid', "He Tianxing said. The company is working with local governments and partners in cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hefei, Zhuhai, and Wuxi to carry out relevant planning and construction. At the same time, some overseas countries including Spain and Japan are also focusing on scene layout, promoting supporting infrastructure planning, and increasing the promotion and application of eVTOL advanced aircraft worldwide.
Under the promotion of the low altitude economy, tens of thousands of takeoff and landing sites and small urban terminals will be built in cities, connecting points, weaving lines, and forming a network to create a new three-dimensional urban low altitude public transportation network, providing all-weather low altitude scene consumption and services. He Tianxing said that the low altitude economy brings not only a transportation revolution and an industrial revolution, but also a revolution in the city and a revolution in changing all our living environments.