Recently, the 5-seater eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft Shengshilong took off from the Shenzhen Shekou cruise home port. After about 20 minutes of flight, it landed at the Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port Terminal, completing the first demonstration of the cross-sea and cross-city eVTOL aircraft route from Shenzhen to Zhuhai. flight.
This is the first demonstration flight of the world's first eVTOL cross-city and cross-bay route, shortening the one-way ground drive time from Shenzhen to Zhuhai from 2.5 to 3 hours to 20 minutes.
Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, known as "air taxis", are a type of low-altitude aircraft that are unmanned and do not require traditional airports and runways. They take off vertically like a helicopter and convert into a fixed-wing flight mode in the air, using pure electric power. .
The envisioned purpose of this technology is to realize point-to-point travel within cities and between cities in metropolitan areas. It may become an important way of air travel in the future and form a new broad market.
The 2023 Central Economic Work Conference pointed out that several strategic emerging industries such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy will be created.
The low-altitude economy has a long industrial chain and rich application scenarios. It plays an important role in building a modern industrial system and has extremely broad development space.
A white paper predicts that by 2025, the comprehensive contribution of the low-altitude economy to China's national economy will reach 3 trillion to 5 trillion yuan.
Previously, the topic "It only takes 2.5 hours from Beijing to Shanghai" sparked heated discussion.
The topic originated from news that my country’s newly designed CR450 Fuxing high-speed EMU with a top speed of 450 kilometers per hour will be put into operation in 2025. The above conclusion was reached based on the calculation of the length of the Beijing-Shanghai passenger line.
This expectation can be seen in people's desire for a shorter commute between the two cities.
At present, economic and social development attaches great importance to efficiency, and fast pace is the norm in all walks of life. Even though the Internet has made communication between people "zero distance", economic and social life still requires face-to-face and offline communication between people.
Therefore, the distance in space cannot be shortened, so efforts need to be made to shorten transportation time.
The development of low-altitude economy and low-altitude transportation commuting between cities are in line with the needs of economic and social development.
Beijing and Shanghai are still geographically distant cities. In the short term, they can only rely on the development of high-speed railways and traditional civil aviation to shorten the transportation time between the two places.
However, it should also be noted that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, regional coordinated development has achieved remarkable results. Under the guidance of new development concepts, regional coordinated development needs to move to a higher level.
The construction and development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and other regions require the creation of more convenient and faster transportation circles. In addition to the existing half-hour and one-hour transportation circles, it is imperative to develop a low-altitude economy.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the Civil Aviation Administration jointly issued the "Green Aviation Manufacturing Development Outline (2023-2035)", proposing to accelerate the integration of eVTOL into the comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, establish a unified air-ground intelligent management platform, and create a low-altitude intelligent network , a safe, convenient, green and economical urban air transport system has initially been formed.
Shenzhen is the "vanguard" of my country's reform and opening up, and it is also a pioneer in developing low-level economies.
The world's first eVTOL cross-city and cross-bay flight route is operated by Shenzhen General Aviation Enterprise. This will be a successful practice in Shenzhen's pilot development of low-altitude economy.
Today, many provinces across the country are committed to developing low-altitude economies and seizing opportunities to promote development.
The "14th Five-Year Plan for the High-Quality Development of Manufacturing Industry in Guangdong Province" proposes to rely on Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai to make the drone industry bigger and stronger; the "Shanghai Action Plan to build a future industrial innovation highland and develop and strengthen future industrial clusters" It is proposed to break through technologies such as tilt rotors, composite wings, and intelligent flight, develop manned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and explore new modes of air traffic; Hainan Province released the country's first provincial airspace map suitable for unmanned aircraft...perhaps not far away In the future, various unmanned aircraft, including electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, will be busy flying at low altitudes between cities, intensifying economic ties between cities, serving coordinated regional development, and injecting new and strong impetus into high-quality development.
[Guangming Review] Author: Chen Cheng