China tests largest cargo drone as low-altitude economy takes off

By Ryan Woo

BEIJING (Reuters) -China has flown its largest unmanned cargo aircraft designed for civilian use, as the world’s largest drone-making country steps up test flights of autonomous aerial vehicles (UAVs) that could ultimately carry everything , from takeout to people.

With a payload capacity of 2 tons, the twin-engine aircraft took off on Sunday on a maiden flight, state media reported, citing developer Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co., for a journey of about 20 minutes in southwest China province. Sichuan.

China’s civilian drone makers are testing larger payloads as the government pushes to build a low-flying economy, with the aviation regulator forecasting a 2 trillion yuan ($279 billion) industry by 2030 , for a four-fold expansion from 2023.

The Tengden-built drone, with a wingspan of 16.1 m (52.8 ft) and a height of 4.6 m (15 ft), is slightly larger than the world’s most popular light aircraft, the four-seat Cessna 172 .

The test followed the maiden flight in June of a cargo drone developed by state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC), the leading aerospace company.

AVIC’s HH-100 has a payload capacity of 700 kg (1,543 pounds) and a flight range of 520 km. Next year, AVIC plans to test its largest cargo drone, the TP2000, which can carry up to 2 tons of cargo and fly four times further than the HH-100.

China has already started commercial deliveries by drone.

In May, cargo drone company Phoenix Wings, part of delivery giant SF Express, began delivering fresh fruit from the island province of Hainan to southern Guangdong, using Fengzhou-90 drones developed by SF, a unit of SF Holding.

Cargo drones promise shorter delivery times and lower transportation costs, Chinese industry experts say, while expanding deliveries to locations without conventional aviation facilities, such as rooftop spaces in heavily urbanized cities.

They could also transport people on taxi services.

In April, aviation authorities issued a production certificate to UAV manufacturer EHang Holdings, based in the southern city of Guangzhou, for its passenger-carrying drone, China’s first such document for an autonomous drone. of passengers.

In a report this year, the government for the first time identified the low-altitude economy as a new engine of growth, with vertical mobility seen as a “new productive force” in areas such as passenger and freight transport.

On Saturday, a manned commercial passenger helicopter took off for the first time from Kunshun, a city in Jiangsu province, bound for Shanghai Pudong Airport, about 100 kilometers away, state media reported.

For one-way fares of up to 1,800 yuan, Shanghai NewSky Heli Co aims to reduce travel time between cities from several hours to 20 minutes. The forecast is that up to 30 thousand passengers per year will use the route, which will open on August 18.

Shanghai plans to expand low-altitude routes to cover other cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

($1 = 7.1742 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)