First Shenzhen-Zhongshan air taxi route expected to open in 2024

As the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge opens for traffic this year, Zhongshan is enhancing its cooperation and integrated development with eastern Pearl River Delta cities like Shenzhen. In terms of transportation integration, in addition to the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, a sea-land connection project, the low-altitude flight across the Pearl River Estuary has also been put on the agenda.

Recently, a delegation from the Shenzhen Low-Altitude Economy Industry Association and Shenzhen Heli-Eastern visited Zhongshan to explore potential collaborations on the infrastructure layout for low-altitude manned flight, route planning, and related industrial development, aiming to launch the first Shenzhen-Zhongshan "air taxi" route in 2024.

Zhao Qi, the president of the Shenzhen Low-Altitude Economy Industry Association and chairman of Shenzhen Heli-Eastern, remarked that urban air transportation is a leading industry in the low-altitude economy. It serves as a symbol of the future, significantly changing the pace of social production and human society. Among them, eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicles) is applied to address the need for efficient logistics and travel between 30 to 300 kilometers. Ithas beencurrently used in cross-border flights, intercity travel, connecting flights, business customization, urban air tours, and emergency rescue, creating a trillion-yuan market potential. Since 2025 marks a critical juncture in the application of electric flight technology, countries around the world have accelerated the establishment of this new industry, while China and Guangdong Province have introduced a series of policies to vigorously promote the development of the low-altitude economy. Zhongshan is thus encouraged to seize these emerging opportunities and design its layout.

It has been revealed that Zhongshan plans to establish fixed take-off and landing sites for helicopters and eVTOLs across the city in short, medium, and long-term phases, providing infrastructure layout and air route planning technical support for low-altitude manned intercity flights, connecting flights, emergency rescues, traffic monitoring, and urban air tours, while catering to future industry development. Additionally, it plans to launch a low-altitude flight route between Shenzhen and Zhongshan in 2024.

(Yangcheng Evening News)