Recently, the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) "Shengshilong" took off from the Shekou cruise home port in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and landed at the Jiuzhou Port Terminal in Zhuhai after a flight of about 20 minutes.
This is the first public demonstration flight of the world's first cross-sea and cross-city electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft route.
This aircraft can be regarded as an "air taxi". This successful flight means that the one-way ground drive from Shenzhen to Zhuhai, which takes 2.5 to 3 hours, can be shortened to 20 minutes.
It can carry 5 people, and the single-seat ticket price is 200 to 300 yuan. It is expected to start manned flights in 2026.
Shenzhen and Zhuhai are located on the east and west sides of the Pearl River Estuary respectively. In the past, traveling by car had to take a detour through the Nansha Bridge or Humen Bridge, which took about 2 to 3 hours.
Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft do not require traditional airports and runways, and can complete a cross-city trip between Shenzhen and Zhuhai in just 20 minutes.
The electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) "Shengshilong" is independently developed by Shanghai Fengfei Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. It has a take-off weight of 2,000 kg, can carry 5 people, and a cruising speed of up to 200 km/h. The core modules are 100% localized.
Xie Jia, senior vice president of Fengfei Aviation Technology, told reporters that after large-scale application, the single-seat fare from Shenzhen to Zhuhai will be about two to three hundred yuan in the future.
"Currently, a taxi from Shenzhen to Zhuhai costs 500 to 600 yuan, which takes nearly three hours, and a boat ride costs 100 yuan, and takes more than an hour."
This is the world's first use of an eVTOL electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft to fly across seas and cities.
After obtaining the airworthiness certificate, the aircraft is expected to start manned flights in 2026.
The flight route from Shenzhen to Zhuhai is operated by Shenzhen Eastern General Aviation Co., Ltd. The two parties have signed a purchase order for 100 Fengfei "Shengshi Dragon" and plan to promote more route operations and commercialization scenarios.
Pure electric power + strong autonomous driving
The future may change the way humans travel
Xie Jia said that this new type of aircraft is a revolution in the history of the aviation industry, "just like ground oil-powered vehicles to trams, this is the transition from oil-powered helicopters to electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and the noise is one-tenth of that of traditional helicopters, or even One percent. It is precisely because of such low noise levels that in the future the sky will be able to allow many such aircraft to fly at the same time, thus achieving scale."
Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft are called "air taxis". They take off vertically like a helicopter, convert to fixed-wing flight mode in the air, and use pure electric power.
Xie Jia said that the operating cost of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft is lower than that of helicopters. In addition, with enhanced automatic driving functions, the requirements for pilots are relatively low, so from an operational perspective, its single-seat ticket price is also relatively low.
"It doesn't make sense to fly once or twice. It must achieve scale and change human life and travel patterns to be meaningful."
According to reports, the purpose of this technology is to serve 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.
Xie Jia said that in addition to transportation hubs, lines such as airport connections, airports to transportation hubs, and airports to urban commercial hubs will also be developed in the future.
After 5 to 10 years of operation, when the entire system and ecological environment, including the regulatory system, have matured, it will enter the next stage.
"At that time, you open the app and click, and an electric vertical aircraft will fly down from a distance, pick you up and take you to your destination automatically."
expert:
The low-altitude economy has huge potential
The low-altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form that relies on low-altitude airspace and is driven by the low-altitude flight activities of various manned or unmanned aircraft, radiating and driving the integrated development of related fields.
Xie Jia told reporters that at present, the utilization rate of low-altitude resources in our country is still relatively low. Low-altitude resources are a precious natural resource. It is time to start using the entire sky as a space for future travel.
Recently, the "Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Low-altitude Economic Industry Promotion Regulations" were officially implemented.
As one of the most important pilot cities for the low-altitude economy, Shenzhen took the lead in introducing special regulations to promote the development of the low-altitude economic industry. Chen Chen, executive director of the Network and Information Law Research Society of the China Law Society, said that Shenzhen has paved a legal runway for the low-altitude economy to take off.
"As the country's first regulation specifically aimed at promoting the low-altitude economic industry, it clearly states that social capital is encouraged to participate, and it also greatly simplifies the approval process. The regulation still attaches great importance to safety. It establishes a strict flight safety management system, as well as emergency plans and Relevant training measures will be taken to ensure safe and controllable low-altitude flights."
Chen Chen believes that the low-altitude economy contains vast opportunities.
"The potential of the low-altitude economy is huge. The low-altitude economy may become a new engine for China's economic growth in the next 10 years."
According to the "Voice of China" WeChat official account of China Central Radio and Television