2024.0409

Number of words in this article:3658, reading time is about 6 minutes

introduction：从目前的民航监管框架和基础设施配套来看，要实现人人可打“空中的士”的应用场景，还有很长的路要走。

** Author| ** First Finance Song Jie Chen Shanshan

On April 7, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued a production license for the EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft system to Yihang Intelligent, which is the first production license in the global eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircraft) industry. This means that the EHI216-S unmanned manned aircraft model of EHIhang will enter a larger-scale mass production stage.

As a new type of transportation, eVTOL has the advantages of low noise, zero emissions, and high efficiency. It can achieve helicopter-like vertical take-off and landing without the need for a runway. It is regarded as one of the important carriers of low-altitude economy.

The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of 2023 proposed to create a number of strategic emerging industries such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy. This year,"low-altitude economy" was included in the government work report, clearly and actively creating this "new growth engine."

From the industry's perspective, China's low-altitude economy has broad prospects. The "Implementation Plan for the Innovative Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024 - 2030)"(hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan") jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently proposed that by 2030, a new development model for the general aviation industry characterized by high-end, intelligent and green has been basically established. General aviation equipment has been fully integrated into all fields of people's production and life, becoming a powerful driving force for low-altitude economic growth and forming a trillion-level market scale.

Yihang EH216-S is currently limited in application scenarios

Yihang Intelligent's EH216-S is an unmanned eVTOL. It is the first eVTOL aircraft to receive the Type Certificate ("TC") from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. It is also the world's first unmanned manned aircraft model certification.

Hu Huazhi, chairman of Yihang Intelligence, said at the relevant licensing ceremony that the production license is an important milestone for this eVTOL product to enter the stage of large-scale production and a key step for the company to promote commercial operations. In the future, production delivery will be gradually expanded to meet growing market demand.

He Tianxing, vice president of Yihang Intelligence, said in an interview with First Finance and Economics that Yihang's current factory production line in Yunfu has an annual production capacity of 600 vehicles, and will officially start large-scale mass production after obtaining a production license.

Aircraft TC airworthiness certification is a prerequisite for ensuring aircraft safety and allowing them to enter the market for commercial operations.

He Tianxing said that after obtaining the TC certificate and production license, the company will give priority to carrying out regular operations in places such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hefei where operation points have been deployed. The first stage will use low-altitude tours and city sightseeing as the entry point., gradually develop into low-altitude commuting and emergency rescue scenarios, and finally realize unmanned and normalized low-altitude urban travel, which is to truly realize "air taxis."

The reason why the application scenarios in the first phase are mainly cultural and tourism is not unrelated to the relevant operating restrictions when the EH216-S obtained the model certificate.

According to the Yihang EH216-S Model Certificate Data Sheet (TCDS) disclosed by the Civil Aviation Administration, the operating restrictions on the unmanned aerial vehicle system include:It is prohibited to operate under known or forecast meteorological conditions such as rain, snow, thunderstorms, ice, sandstorms, and fog; operation is limited to daytime; aircraft flies in isolated airspace; aircraft flies over sparsely populated areas; aircraft flies within the line of sight of remote crew; aircraft is prohibited from operating on water, including take-off, landing and forced landing.

This means that the EH216-S can only fly over sparsely populated areas and cannot fly too far.