On April 7th, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft system production license to Yihang Intelligence, which is the first production license in the global eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) industry.
Hu Huazhi, Chairman of Yihang Intelligence, stated at the relevant certification ceremony that the production license is an important milestone for EH216-S to enter the stage of large-scale production and a key step for the company to promote commercial operations. In the future, we will gradually expand production and delivery to meet the growing market demand.
It is reported that in the process of production license certification, the review team is formed by the Central and Southern Region Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. From multiple dimensions such as quality, production, testing, and after-sales, it conducts document review and on-site verification review of the 19 system elements of the enterprise's production capacity and quality management system, including organizational management, design data control, personnel capabilities and qualifications, supplier management, manufacturing process control, inspection and testing, etc.
He Tianxing, Vice President of Yihang Intelligence, stated in an interview with First Financial that Yihang currently has an annual production capacity of 600 aircraft on its factory production line in Yunfu. After obtaining a production license, it will officially begin large-scale production. In the past few years, Yihang has received thousands of orders domestically and overseas, and in the future, it will carry out orderly product delivery work around pre-sale orders and the needs of new partners.
He Tianxing also told reporters that in the future, Yihang will start commercial operations based on market planning and deployed operating points, prioritizing air travel and urban tourism as entry points, allowing everyone to understand and experience low altitude flight. In the later stage, it will gradually develop towards transportation connections, emergency rescue, and air commuting, in order to achieve the normal operation of "urban air taxis", allowing citizens to enjoy air taxis in their daily travel.
The reporter learned that Yihang is currently cooperating with regulatory units such as the Civil Aviation Administration to develop a low altitude unmanned aerial flight operation standard system. At the same time, it is also working with local governments to promote the construction of supporting infrastructure and digital management platforms, in order to achieve large-scale flight and operation after mass production. It is accelerating the construction of low altitude economic model cities in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hefei, Wuhan and other places, and establishing benchmark application scenarios for the low altitude economic industry.
On March 27th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Innovative Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), proposing that by 2027, China's supply capacity and industrial innovation capacity of general aviation equipment will be significantly improved, the basic support system for modern general aviation will be basically established, the efficient integration of industrial ecology will be preliminarily formed, the general aviation public service equipment system will be basically improved, and the new type of general aviation equipment with unmanned, electrified, and intelligent technical characteristics will be commercially applied in urban air transportation, logistics distribution, emergency rescue and other fields.
The Plan proposes that by 2030, a new development model for the general aviation industry characterized by high-end, intelligent, and green development will be basically established, supporting and ensuring the safe and efficient operation of the "short distance transportation+electric vertical takeoff and landing" passenger transportation network, the "trunk support terminal" unmanned aerial vehicle distribution network, and the low altitude production operation network that meets the needs of industry and agriculture. General aviation equipment will be fully integrated into various fields of people's production and life, becoming a strong driving force for low altitude economic growth, forming a trillion level market scale.