GUANGZHOU, China - China's air mobility company EHang has added another location to its autonomous air taxi roster with the launch of an aerial sightseeing trial in partnership with real estate company Greenland Hong Kong, Paul Ridden reports for New Atlas. Continue reading original article.
The Intelligent Aerospace take:
January 6, 2021 -The collaboration will start with a flight base in Forest Lake first, independently run by EHang, to offer aerial sightseeing services to passengers. Forest Lake is located close to the new Zhaoqing-Pearl River Delta-Hub Airport, which is under construction. The area offers abundant tourism attractions, including 7 natural lakes and wetlands covering 3 million square meters. Going forward, the two parties will work together to commercialize EHang AAV technologies in various use cases including aerial sightseeing.
As a specific use case of UAM, aerial sightseeing has strong demand. In early 2017, the Chinese Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Civil Aviation Administration jointly issued "Suggestions on Promoting the Integrated Development of Transportation and Tourism". This directive supported the development of aerial sightseeing by encouraging key tourist cities and eligible scenic spots to carry out pilot programs for civil aviation tourism as well as to open low-altitude flight routes. Low-altitude tourism in China could reach 4.2 billion passengers in recent years, leading to a market size of approximately $9 billion, according to forecasts from the China Air Transport Association.
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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace
