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Hefei has become a showcase for a new phase of Chinese mobility, in which drones, electric aircraft, and urban flight structures begin to test civilian uses of the sky in transportation, tourism, logistics, and emergency services.
The city of Hefei, capital of Anhui province in eastern China, has become one of the country’s showcases for the so-called low-altitude economy, a sector that includes electric aircraft, drones, urban air infrastructure, and civilian services in lower airspace.
In Luogang Central Park, the project gained momentum with structures aimed at urban air mobility, including a hub launched by EHang on November 13, 2024, for operations with eVTOL aircraft, an acronym in English for electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.
With this initiative, China is trying to transform a little-explored part of the urban sky into an economic space, with applications in passenger transportation, air tourism, logistics, industrial inspections, precision agriculture, and emergency services.
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According to the Chinese government, the low-altitude economy involves activities with manned and unmanned aircraft that generally operate below 1,000 meters above the ground, a range that has received strategic attention in the country’s industrial planning.
Hefei bets on eVTOLs for urban mobility
In Hefei, the priority is to create an infrastructure network capable of supporting short-distance flights within the city and, at a later stage, integrating different urban air services.
Presented as a demonstration project for commercial eVTOL operations in eastern China, the hub at Luogang Central Park is part of the partnership between EHang and the municipal government.
The structure occupies about 1,963 square meters and was designed to accommodate 10 to 20 units of the EH216-S model, an autonomous passenger aircraft developed by EHang.
Within the space, areas for ticket issuance, waiting, boarding, command and control were planned, as well as zones for aircraft recharging and maintenance.
More than an isolated landing and takeoff point, the project integrates an infrastructure and applications plan for urban air mobility presented by the Hefei city hall.
In this design, the local network operates on three levels, formed by hubs, operational bases, and landing and takeoff points, focusing on urban air transportation, tourism, and inter-district travel.
Luogang Central Park becomes an aerial laboratory
Before the inauguration of the new hub, Hefei had already started structuring Luogang Central Park as a testing area for urban air mobility.
In May 2024, the location received an operations center also focused on the use of eVTOLs, with planned capacity to operate 10 units of the EH216-S and store up to 50 aircraft.
This physical base opened space for tests, demonstrations, and future commercial routes, while allowing the city to bring together manufacturers, operators, and regulatory authorities in the same environment.
The local advancement follows a broader national directive, as the low-altitude economy appeared for the first time in the Chinese government’s work report in 2024 as a new growth engine.
In the same agenda, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China indicated the development of general aviation and the low-altitude economy as a priority, alongside sectors such as biomanufacturing and commercial space flights.
Drones and electric aircraft enter the Chinese strategy
This interest gained strength because the sector combines technology, industry, and services, in addition to opening new applications for unmanned aircraft, air control systems, and vertical take-off electric equipment.
In China, drones are already used in deliveries, power grid inspections, agricultural monitoring, image collection in solar plants, and rescue support, while eVTOLs advance as a bet for urban or tourist routes.
Despite the potential, the large-scale operation of these aircraft still depends on certifications, safety standards, urban infrastructure, adequate traffic control, and public acceptance for regular services.
Part of the interest is explained by the projected numbers for the sector.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China estimated that the value of the low-altitude economy would reach 1.5 trillion yuan in 2025 and exceed 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035.
This calculation includes not only aircraft but also infrastructure, services, air traffic control, maintenance, logistics, and industrial applications related to the civil use of low-altitude airspace.
The movement helps to understand why Chinese local governments have started to compete for sector projects, especially in cities seeking to attract manufacturers, operators, and new chains of technological services.
According to information released by the Chinese government, most provincial administrations have already incorporated the low-altitude economy into their development agendas.
While Hefei structures its aerial mobility network, cities like Hangzhou and Wuhan are also working on their own initiatives to expand civilian uses of drones, aircraft, and intelligent air management systems.
Partnership between Hefei and EHang structures new phase
In the case of Hefei, the city government is trying to form an ecosystem that unites government, manufacturer, operator, and urban infrastructure, with EHang as one of the central companies in this demonstration phase.
The company reported that its strategic partnership with the municipal government began in October 2023 and led to the creation of Heyi Aviation in March 2024.
Aimed at the implementation and operation of low-altitude projects in the city, Heyi Aviation had its application for an air operator certificate accepted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in July 2024.
This step is necessary to advance in civilian operations with autonomous passenger aircraft, while the Luogang structure serves as a base to demonstrate how the model can move from testing to regular services.
However, there are still technical and regulatory challenges for the Chinese bet on urban skies to become a daily operation.
The expansion will depend on safe routes, reliable communication, traffic control, integration with ground transportation, and clear rules to separate drones, eVTOLs, helicopters, and other aircraft in the same airspace.
For this reason, the current phase combines technological demonstration, infrastructure construction, and gradual definition of operational standards, without treating urban aerial mobility as an already consolidated large-scale service.
In Hefei, parks, operation centers, vertiports, and route plans function as a laboratory for a sector that could move from being an experiment to becoming part of transportation, tourism, logistics, and emergency services in the coming years.
