At the 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition on April 20, 2021, Geely Technology Group and the urban air mobility company Volocopter jointly release the new-generation pure electric flying car Volo2X.

Low point is the new high point. With electric drones and other aircraft capable of taking off and landing vertically becoming part of people’s everyday life, like flying taxis and drone delivery services, the low-altitude economy – which generally denotes manned and unmanned activities in airspace below 1,000 meters – has become China’s new growth engine. 

Last year China’s annual central economic work conference called the low-altitude economy a strategic emerging industry and subsequently, the 2024 government work report mentioned it as a new growth engine. Across the country, provinces and even cities are tailoring local policies to ramp up the commercialization of the sector boosted by new technology. 

This issue’s Special Report looks at the panorama of the low-altitude economy in China, zooming in on different sections of the industrial chain as well as individual companies. It also focuses on policies as well as the exchanges and mutual learning between China and the rest of the world in this sector. 

Planned by YAN YING