The 2nd China Aviation Association Aviation Conference held multiple sub forums. At the sub forum on general aviation and low altitude economic development, the "China General Aviation Development Report" and the "China Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Development Report" were released. According to the report, as China's economy recovers and improves, the size of the general aviation market steadily expands, the development momentum continues to increase, and the scale of drone applications continues to expand.
According to the report, the flight time of general aviation, the number of general aircraft, and the number of operating companies will all reach new highs in 2023. In 2023, traditional general aviation will fly 1.371 million hours, an increase of 12.4% over the previous year. From January to July this year, general aviation operated a total of 517000 hours of flights, of which 13000 hours were completed for passenger operations. As of July this year, there were 712 general aviation enterprises in China. In 2024, a total of 206 general aviation companies received special funds for general aviation, with a total funding of 595.4 million yuan.
In recent years, the annual growth rate of China's drone industry economy has been 10 percentage points higher than that of traditional aviation, becoming an important driving force for the development of the low altitude economy industry.
As of now, there are over 17000 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operating enterprises in China, and over 2 million UAVs have been registered with real names nationwide. From January to August this year, the cumulative flight hours of civilian drones in China reached 19.461 million, a year-on-year increase of 15.6%. China has been the world's largest exporter of civilian drones for many years, accounting for over 70% of global patent applications in the field of drones and becoming the world's largest source of technology.
