Wuhan metropolitan area pioneers urban low-altitude commuter services

Central China's Hubei province is poised to accelerate its application of low-altitude flying vehicles, building low-altitude sites within logistics parks, express distribution centers, and key business districts across the province, to support express delivery giants in achieving regular drone logistics operations.

The recently released "Hubei Province Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of the Low-Altitude Economy (2024-2027)" sets a clear goal of exceeding 100 billion yuan ($13.93 billion) in the low-altitude economy industry in Hubei province by 2027.

This new economic frontier promises exciting prospects for six low-altitude formats, including emergency rescue, logistics distribution, market tourism, urban transportation, agricultural and forestry production, and Beidou (China's satellite navigation system) applications.

A drone in operation. [Photo/Hubei Daily]

Hubei is expected to lead in launching trial urban and inter-city low-altitude passenger transport routes within the Wuhan metropolitan area. The province focuses on supporting aviation businesses in developing urban air traffic using eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft as the core. This will shorten the travel time between Optics Valley Square and Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to a mere 20 minutes by use of the "flying taxi".

Hubei also plans to expand the application of low-altitude flying vehicles in scenarios such as forest fire prevention, high-rise firefighting, and disaster relief. The province is poised to actively guide and support the development of a variety of low-altitude economic consumer projects while promoting the large-scale application of low-altitude flying vehicles in fields such as crop monitoring, pesticide spraying, and precision planting. Additionally, it also plans to build a Beidou low-altitude comprehensive service platform that covers the entire province.