Explicitly cited by the central government for development, supporting policies will be further improved, and the low-altitude economy will accelerate its takeoff in the future.

　　On July 21, Xinhua News Agency was authorized to broadcast in full the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese Modernization" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"). Regarding improving the institutional mechanisms for modern infrastructure construction, the "Decision" mentions building a planning and standards system for new infrastructure, improving the mechanisms for integrated utilization of new infrastructure, advancing the digital transformation of traditional infrastructure, broadening diversified investment and financing channels, and improving the coordination mechanisms for major infrastructure construction. It calls for deepening the reform of the comprehensive transportation system, advancing railway system reform, developing general aviation and the low-altitude economy, and promoting the optimization of toll road policies. It also calls for enhancing shipping insurance underwriting capacity and global service levels, and advancing innovation in maritime arbitration institutional rules. It calls for improving the mechanisms for the construction, operation, and management of major water conservancy projects.

　　Regarding improving the institutional mechanisms for developing new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, the "Decision" mentions promoting revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading; promoting the optimized combination and upgrading of workers, means of labor, and objects of labor; fostering new industries, new models, and new drivers of growth; and developing productive forces characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. It calls for strengthening innovation in key generic technologies, frontier-leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies; strengthening institutional supply in new fields and new tracks; establishing a mechanism for increasing investment in future industries; improving policies and governance systems for promoting the development of strategic industries such as next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, aerospace, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, biomedicine, and quantum technology; and guiding the healthy and orderly development of emerging industries.

　　According to Civil Aviation Administration regulations, general aviation refers collectively to operational flights using civil aircraft to serve industrial, agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery production and national construction, as well as flight activities in medical health, emergency rescue and disaster relief, marine and environmental monitoring, scientific experiments, education and training, culture and sports, and sightseeing. The so-called low-altitude economy refers to a comprehensive economic form within airspace below 3,000 meters, driven by low-altitude flight activities of manned and unmanned aircraft and radiating across multiple fields.

　　Development of the low-altitude economy reaffirmed, related supporting policies continuously strengthened

　　"This is the second time it has been mentioned by central policy after the 2024 Two Sessions wrote 'low-altitude economy' into the government work report and defined it as a 'new growth engine.' This undoubtedly reaffirms the government's determination to develop the low-altitude economy and will bring a new wave of benefits to the development of the low-altitude economy and related industries," Huang Xiaofei, partner and senior vice president of leading eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) company Volant Aerotech, told The Paper reporters on the evening of July 21.

　　"This 'Decision' has elevated the positioning of general aviation and the low-altitude economy to a new height, providing more favorable policy support for the rapid development of the low-altitude economy," Tan Chaochen, executive vice president and secretary-general of the Shenzhen Aviation Industry Association, told The Paper reporters on the evening of July 21. He stated that the "Decision" provides certain policy guidance for the implementation of the low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry and strengthens guarantees in terms of policy support and rule-making.

　　Regarding financial capital, the "Decision" mentions improving relevant rules and policies, accelerating the formation of production relations more compatible with new quality productive forces, promoting the concentration of various advanced production factors toward the development of new quality productive forces, and substantially enhancing total factor productivity. It encourages and regulates the development of angel investment, venture capital, and private equity investment, better leverages the role of government investment funds, and develops patient capital.

　　Huang Xiaofei also pointed out to The Paper reporters that the "Decision" mentions encouraging and regulating the development of angel investment, venture capital, and private equity investment, better leveraging the role of government investment funds, and developing patient capital. For booming low-altitude enterprises, especially startups like commercial passenger eVTOL companies with long development cycles and high development costs, this is a shot in the arm that helps raise funds from multiple channels and better complete R&D, airworthiness certification, and commercialization work.

　　Since the second half of last year, the low-altitude economy has grown into a new growth engine with unprecedented development momentum. Various localities have successively rolled out various targeted support policies for low-altitude infrastructure, low-altitude industry chain development, core technology breakthroughs, and enterprise cultivation, making every effort to build highlands for low-altitude economy development and further standardizing the industry. Since the beginning of this year, in addition to localities continuing to follow up with low-altitude-related plans and programs, many places have also intensively launched low-altitude industry funds and set up joint ventures, empowering low-altitude projects and industries with real money.

　　An executive of large drone company Aerospace Times Feipeng told The Paper reporters that the content of the above "Decision" indicates that the low-altitude economy will serve as a key direction of comprehensive transportation system reform and support the modernization of national transportation infrastructure. Subsequently, "low-altitude + logistics" and "low-altitude + travel" will gradually become new quality forces in China's comprehensive three-dimensional transportation construction, an important direction for China's modern digital infrastructure construction, and will be expanded and applied at scale to support the industrial reform and upgrading of thousands of industries, achieving the systematic reshaping and holistic reconstruction of China's air transportation infrastructure.

　　The executive further pointed out that the low-altitude economy being once again highlighted and incorporated into the category of transportation infrastructure heralds that China will systematically guide and advance the construction of scenarios typically applied as low-altitude + logistics at the policy and fiscal levels, build systematic management systems in areas such as route opening, route subsidies, industrial investment, talent cultivation, operations management, and supervision through market traction, and win the initiative in the global market.

　　Low-altitude economy accelerates its takeoff: support policies and measures intensively rolled out across localities

　　"The intensive introduction of policies supporting the low-altitude economy over the past year shows that both the central and local governments are pushing the development of the low-altitude economy further," Huang Xiaofei said. Since the second half of last year, many policies have provided favorable conditions for the development of the low-altitude economy from different perspectives such as airspace, capital, industrial positioning, and operating hours. Meanwhile, local governments have also actively followed up. For example, Sichuan, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Anhui are among the first batch of pilot provinces for national low-altitude airspace management reform; Shenzhen, Suzhou, Zigong, and others have also issued requirements for takeoff and landing site construction in the coming years. All of these are gradually advancing policies to promote the development of the low-altitude economy from the local government level, providing infrastructure guarantees such as airspace and takeoff and landing sites for the development of low-altitude economy enterprises.

　　According to what The Paper reporters have learned from multiple interviews in the industry, based on years of development of domestic drones and the collective promotion of policies across localities, technology is no longer the threshold constraining an industry breakout; the industry is currently waiting for further maturation of the supply chain and more open policies.

　　Among these, airspace reform and airworthiness certification are the core keys for the low-altitude economy to "ride the momentum and fly."

　　Speaking about the policy pain points that still exist in the current industry development, Deng Yu, general manager of general aviation high-tech private enterprise Shanhe Xinghang Industrial Co., Ltd., told The Paper reporters on the evening of July 21 that the low-altitude airspace opening policy still needs to be implemented as soon as possible to greatly expand the space for general aviation flight activities; the "Provisions on the Administration of General Aviation Operating Licenses" does not include "experience flights" in the business scope of light sport aircraft. Experience flights can play a vital role in promoting public understanding of and participation in general aviation and in promoting the development of the low-altitude economy. For example, in Australia, light sport aircraft can conduct commercial flight activities such as passenger carrying, manned flights, and aerial sightseeing, which has greatly promoted the development of the local aviation consumer market.

　　Shu Zhenjie, chief expert of the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment, also recently pointed out problems such as the failure to maximize airspace management in the resource management and utilization of low-altitude airspace and the failure to achieve flexibility in the use of low-altitude airspace. For example, China still implements a four-level aviation control system of "unified control and separate command." The National Air Traffic Control Commission leads the national aviation control work, which is organized and implemented uniformly by the local military. The approval process for flight plans in low-altitude control areas is slow, and flexible use has not been achieved. Regarding unmanned aircraft certification, because key technologies such as sense-and-avoid and intelligent piloting of current unmanned aircraft are still not fully mature, it is difficult to reach the level of airworthiness and commercial operation. Taking eVTOL as an example, currently only EHang's EH216-S has obtained an airworthiness certificate, so there are problems of insufficient certification experience and difficulty in obtaining certification.

　　In addition, Deng Yu also pointed out that infrastructure construction still faces limitations. The lag in the construction of general aviation airports and camps is a major bottleneck constraining the growth of general aviation. As of December 31, 2023, there were only 449 registered general aviation airports nationwide, while the United States has more than 20,000 general aviation airports. In addition, the volume of the general aviation market is still not ideal. Aircraft complete machine manufacturing and aviation service operating enterprises are still in the development stage and need substantive support from the government in terms of market cultivation to solve the problems of enterprise market expansion and enterprise funding needs.

　　However, as many localities currently mention in their low-altitude economy development plans that they will plan for liberalization, promote the construction of low-altitude route networks, and achieve breakthrough progress in the classified designation and coordinated management of low-altitude airspace, executives of leading eVTOL enterprises have also pointed out to The Paper reporters that airspace reform is continuing and the application process is showing a trend of simplification. Current airspace resources are sufficient for the existing development of the low-altitude economy, but challenges remain for the outbreak of a trillion-yuan market in the future, requiring further improvement of air traffic control efficiency and coordination of air traffic control technologies.

　　It is worth noting that low-altitude airspace reform, airworthiness model innovation, and infrastructure expansion are all accelerating. At a press conference on July 10, Song Zhiyong, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, mentioned strengthening the construction of the airworthiness certification system and capacity, steadily advancing the airworthiness certification of traditional manned aircraft, improving and perfecting relevant technical specification standards for drones, exploring and innovating drone airworthiness certification models, and better adapting to the airworthiness review requirements of drone R&D, design, and manufacturing. In addition, Song Zhiyong also mentioned improving infrastructure construction standards. In response to the new demands of low-altitude economy development on the planning, layout, and functions of general aviation airports, he called for promoting the improvement of construction and operation standards for general aviation airports, temporary takeoff and landing sites, and vertical takeoff and landing sites, and guiding and supporting local governments in improving infrastructure planning and construction.