As the Spring Festival approaches in 2025, the Valiant Airlines VE25-100 eVTOL display model has entered the central service area on the B1 floor of the GTC parking building in Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport, adding a low altitude color to the festive season.
As a hot topic of concern in 2024, the low altitude economy is gradually entering people's lives. In the past year, "low altitude economy" was first included in the government work report, defined as a "new growth engine". Subsequently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and four other departments issued the "Implementation Plan for Innovative Applications of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030)", proposing that by 2030, general aviation equipment should be fully integrated into various fields of people's production and life, becoming a powerful driving force for low altitude economic growth and forming a trillion dollar market scale. In July, the Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China explicitly proposed the development of general aviation and low altitude economy, further affirming the emerging strategic industry status of low altitude economy. In December, the Low altitude Economy Department was established, providing stronger support for the development of the low altitude economy. Step by step, the development path of China's low altitude economy has become increasingly clear, showing a vigorous momentum.
At the Capital Airport exhibition site, it is clear that the VE25-100 eVTOL can be used for practical scenarios such as commuting within and between cities, low altitude sightseeing, medical rescue, and freight transportation. Taking the Future Science City to the Thirteen Tombs Scenic Area as an example, a distance of 20-30km can be reached in just 10-15 minutes by flying at a speed of 180km/h. If we calculate the emergency medical demonstration route from Beijing Lvkangyuan Hospital to Beijing Tongren Hospital (South Hospital) affiliated to Capital Medical University, with a distance of 18km and a flight speed of 235km/h, it only takes 18 minutes to arrive, while ground transportation takes 45 minutes without congestion. As a transportation tool that disrupts human travel patterns, eVTOL is improving our way of life with its efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly features.
Volant Airlines, which has entered Beijing Capital International Airport this time, focuses on the research and development, design, and manufacturing of passenger grade eVTOL technology as its core business. The VE25-100 eVTOL showcased this time is its main product, which adopts a composite wing architecture and can carry one pilot and five passengers. It has a cruising speed of 235 km/h and a takeoff weight of 2.5 tons. It is currently the largest commercial and widest passenger eVTOL in the world. As of now, there are over 860 intention orders for VE25-100 eVTOLs, with an order amount exceeding 22 billion yuan, which can fully cover the full range of eVTOL applications in six major categories: low altitude sightseeing, training, short distance transportation, freight transportation, emergency rescue, and urban travel. In January 2024, China Southern Airlines and Volant officially signed the first batch of confirmed orders for high-level commercial passenger eVTOL in China. This is the first batch of confirmed orders for high-level commercial passenger eVTOL in China, marking the comprehensive acceleration of eVTOL commercialization and opening a new chapter in China's low altitude industry and even global advanced air traffic.
Yichang Parking, a subsidiary of Shoucheng Holdings, has obtained the operating rights of the parking building at Beijing Capital International Airport. Shoucheng Holdings invested in Volant Airlines in August 2024, officially entering the low altitude industry ecosystem. Ye Qian, a member of the Executive Committee of Shoucheng Holdings and President of Shoucheng Capital, said that eVTOL, as one of the most promising industries in the future, can form a high degree of synergy with Shoucheng Holdings' existing business sectors such as parking, industrial parks, and tourism asset operations. Volant is a company in China's eVTOL field with internationally leading research and development capabilities, accurate product definitions, mature commercial logic, and operational experience, and can represent China in participating in the international competition of this wave of air traffic revolution.
