On April 7th, the Civil Aviation Administration of China officially issued the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft system production license to Yihang Intelligence, which is also the first production certificate (PC) in the global eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) industry.
Lin Heyong, Director of the Airworthiness Certification Department of the Central and Southern Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China, stated that obtaining the production license indicates that Yihang EH216-S has the qualification for mass production.
The EH216-S, also known as the "Air Taxi" that sparked heated discussions among netizens, is a pure electric unmanned manned aircraft with two seats. It is currently priced at 2.39 million yuan in the official guide price in the Chinese market. It was previously sold in a friend's live broadcast room, which was priced at 1.99 million yuan. As of April 7th, the sold quantity of this product on Taobao shows 0.
According to sources from Yihang Intelligence, Yihang Intelligence has delivered 52 EH216 series products in 2023. After obtaining TC and AC, the market demand for EH216 unmanned manned aircraft has increased. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Yihang Intelligence delivered a total of 23 EH216 series products, the highest delivery volume in three years.
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Hu Huazhi, founder, chairman, and CEO of Yihang Intelligence, said at the award ceremony, "The production license is an important milestone for EH216-S to enter the stage of large-scale production, and also a key step for Yihang Intelligence to promote commercial operations."
In order for civil aircraft to be put into production and operation, it is necessary to obtain a Type Certificate (TC), a Production License (PC), and an Airworthiness Certificate (AC), which respectively represent that the product design meets the corresponding airworthiness regulations, the manufacturer has the ability to manufacture the qualified aircraft repeatedly, and the aircraft has the ability to be put into operation.
From October 2023 to now, within just six months, Yihang EH216-S has achieved three "global firsts" in airworthiness certification.
On October 13th last year, Yihang successfully obtained a license for unmanned aerial vehicles; On December 28, 2023, the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft obtained a standard airworthiness certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, becoming the world's first unmanned manned electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to obtain an airworthiness certificate. In April 2024, EH216-S once again won the industry's first PC.
Previously, the production license review team agreed to conduct a special evaluation of Yihang's production inspection system in accordance with the special procedure of "production based on model certificate of conformity" (TC Only), and approved a production plan with a certain quantity limit.
According to Yihang Intelligence, the production license review team was established by the Central and Southern Regional Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. It conducted document review and on-site verification review on 19 system elements of Yihang Intelligence's production capacity and quality management system from multiple dimensions such as quality, production, testing, and after-sales.
It can be seen that the three "global firsts" of Yihang EH216-S cannot be achieved without the support of the Civil Aviation Administration of China for the eVTOL industry.
Since last year, the low altitude economy has received strong support from the central and local policies. At the Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year, it was proposed to develop several strategic emerging industries such as biological manufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low altitude economy. The 2024 Government Work Report mentions actively building new growth engines such as biological manufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low altitude economy.
The low altitude economy covers the manufacturing and development of low altitude aircraft such as light and small fixed wing aircraft, civilian helicopters, drones, and eVTOL. EH216-S belongs to the eVTOL track.
On April 1st, CCID Consulting released a research report on the development of China's low altitude economy. In 2023, the scale of China's low altitude economy reached 505.95 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 33.8%. It is optimistic that the scale is expected to exceed one trillion yuan by 2026.
The report shows that from the forefront track, in 2023, the scale of China's eVTOL industry reached 980 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 77.3%, and is expected to reach 9.5 billion yuan by 2026. "In 2023, the eVTOL industry is still in the early stages of development, and commercial operations and related product mass production are accelerating, with generally smaller scale of complete machine enterprises."
Yang Jincai, President of the Shenzhen Drone Industry Association, told Time Finance reporters that this year is the first year of eVTOL's development, and the next five years will be an active period of development.
In the eVTOL industry, 10 companies including Yihang Intelligence, Shidi Technology, Zero Gravity, Volant, and Fengfei Aviation were rated by CCID Consulting as the "Most Valuable Investment Enterprises in China's eVTOL Industry in 2023".
According to the latest financial data, in the fiscal year 2023, Yihang Intelligence's total revenue was 117 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 165.0%, with a net loss of 302 million yuan and a net loss of 329 million yuan in the fiscal year 2022.
Hu Huazhi stated that Yihang will gradually expand production and delivery with PC as the starting point to meet the growing market demand.
However, obtaining the three certificates does not mean owning an "air taxi" that can fly wherever you want. During the actual operation of the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft, the takeoff and landing points and routes need to be jointly developed by Yihang Intelligence and local civil aviation authorities to ensure reliable communication, the route will not conflict with other flight routes, and there are no fixed obstacles blocking the route.
This means that it will take some time for this "air taxi" to reach personal commercial use, but it has a relatively optimistic prospect in enterprise level commerce.
On February 1st of this year, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Low Altitude Economic Industry Promotion Regulations mentioned that the municipal transportation department should develop low altitude flight services such as official flights and commercial flights, promote the opening of low altitude passenger and cargo routes within the city, intercity, and cross-border, and develop new urban air traffic formats such as air commuting and intercity flights.