As host to sixteen megacities with populations of over 10.0 million each and a nationwide urban population exceeding 950.0 million people, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has moved quickly to cultivate and leverage the possibilities of the emerging UAM market for the servicing of the public transit and logistical requirements associated with the country’s vast urban base. Over the past several years, the patronage and expansion of the national ‘low-altitude economy’ has become a rising industrial-infrastructural priority at the state level as the wider global race associated with the segment has heated up in tandem. Released under the auspices of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, the economic, industrial and military objectives outlined in the 14th (2021-2025) and most recent 15th Five-Year Plans (2026-2030) have identified innovation in the low-altitude segment as a deepening area of emphasis for investment and technological development. These objectives were formalized most clearly by the release of the 2024 Implementation Plan for Innovative Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030) by a collective body of state ministries and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Collectively, these national policy initiatives are also downward signals meant to ripple through the landscape of the country’s regional and municipal authorities and incentivize dynamism in the local and private contexts. In the over four decades since transition’s out from orthodox command communism, two cities have perhaps come to best exemplify its modern economy. Shanghai, the historical financial hub and long-standing portal to the wider world that helped kickstart the country’s transformation into an economic power, and Shenzen, the small-fishing village that near overnight transformed itself into a global hub of high-speed innovation and technological development. Although the growth of the PRC’s low-altitude economy spans the breadth of the country (with notable players like Geely’s Aerofugia based out of Chengdu), these two cities and their wider regional environs nevertheless have emerged as dueling competitive hubs, both seeking to claim both the dividends and prestige of being at the heart of this would-be revolution in air transportation.
Romance of the Three Cities; The Shenzhen-Guangzhou-Hong Kong Nexus
The coastal corridor of the PRC’s Guandong province, encompassing the cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou and administratively neighboring the global financial hub of Hong Kong, represents the kind of dense constellation of urban polities often envisioned as the ideal operating conditions for urban air mobility platforms. These three cities alone possess a combined population exceeding 40 million people and serve as major regional anchors of industrial and economic activity. Frequently dubbed “China’s Silicon Valley” for its concentration of technological industries and fast-paced and highly competitive entrepreneurial environment, Shenzhen has become a significant locus of eVTOL and UAM development activity.
Under the auspices of the ‘Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Low-Altitude Economy in Guangdong Province (2024-2026)’ and related earlier initiatives, the Shenzhen authorities and major segmental players have sought to cultivate the city’s multi-vector ‘City in the Sky’ technological and infrastructural development concept. At the center of this initiative, is the region, and arguably country’s premier eVTOL company, EHang. Headquartered in Guangzhou, EHang can boast the receipt of China’s first Commercial Pilot Operation Approval from the CAAC for its 216 eVTOL platform in 2020 and Type Certification in 2023. Over the subsequent years, EHang has partnered with a mounting list of municipal and private entities to establish the nascent basis for UAM routes across the region, such as the Bao’an District Government, Shenzhen Expressway Operation and Development Company and Heli-Eastern. In December 2025, EHang outlined nascent plans to establish a Shenzhen to Hong Kong commercial route.
Of course, the establishment of routes requires vertiport infrastructure to sustain them. Towards this end, Shenzhen has established ambitious targets for the construction of some1,200 UAV and UAM landing sites, with city authorities announcing a planned commitment of $1.7 billion in resources for the initiative in 2024.[7] In late 2025, the Shenzhen-based Haylion Technologies announced a partnership with Australia’s SkyPortz aimed at constructing a vast network of the latter’s modular vertipads across the city in coordination with local authorities.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]
Financing Future Flight: Shanghai
Not to be outdone, Shanghai, as the financial center of modern China is also making a concerted play to the be the ‘eVTOL capital of the world”. In early 2026, Shanghai authorities announced outlined a prospective three-year plan to further cultivate and expand its position within the emerging eVTOL segment. Strategic development objectives outlined under the recently unveiled plan include the growth in value of local low-altitude economic activities to $11.4 billion and capacity to produce over 500 aircraft annually by 2028.
Shanghai’s leading UAM provider is Autoflight, which attained the critical milestone of CAAC Type Certification for its flagship Prosperity eVTOL platform in 2024. In 2025, Autoflight’s V2000CG was extended certification in Indonesia, a notable external accomplishment. AutoFlight’s aircraft are equally ubiquitous in emerging routes and tests being held across the country, often appearing directly alongside those of EHang.
Shanghai planners arguably face a more complex and circumscribed airspace and veriport construction environment than those of Shenzhen, but the city and local contractors are nevertheless seeking out means to adapt to these unique challenges. In November 2025, AutoFlight unveiled its “Zero-Carbon Water Vertiport” concept, a mobile sea-based landing site and operations hub. More conventional vertiport development is also proceeding apace, however. That very same month, the UK-based Urban Air Port Limited and the Shanghai-headquartered Starports announced a planned partnership for the pursuit of nationwide vertiport development, with Shanghai itself being one region of infrastructural emphasis.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]
Sources:
[1] https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-03-07/Expert-decodes-China-s-low-altitude-economy-development-path-1Bylf7iOKys/p.html
[2] https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202601/1352258.shtml
[3] https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13204?__cf_chl_f_tk=tUcLObSZLtoO2uF90CNVX3yOldtdq8nozFoVFMs06dk-1782756218-1.0.1.1-_CZT1m8wxkvRo5a3U7MmwKUmzO460n2xWbMY1JOexps
[4] https://andamanpartners.com/2025/09/megacity-nation-chinas-16-cities-with-10-million-plus-residents/
[5] https://www.c-its.org.cn/en/Index/show/catid/3/id/311.html
[6] https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-12-01/China-bets-big-on-the-low-altitude-economy-but-can-it-scale-globally–1IHxeOZfnby/index.html
[8] https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3227433/rise-shenzhen-chinas-silicon-valley-seaside-town-fast-moving-city-secret-pockets-tranquillity
[9] https://www.sz.gov.cn/en_szgov/news/infocus/LowAltitudeEconomy/Areasofapplication/logistics/content/post_11712933.html
[10] https://verticalmag.com/press-releases/chinas-low-altitude-economy-launches-with-skyportz-and-haylion-collaboration/
[11] https://www.urbanairmobilitynews.com/new-city-projects/shenzhen-announces-plans-for-over-1200-drone-evtol-take-off-and-landing-platforms/
[12] https://www.aaminternational.com/2025/01/ehang-opens-smart-uam-center-in-shenzhen/
[13] https://evtol.news/news/a-small-step-for-ehang-a-giant-leap-for-evtol
[14] https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikehirschberg/2025/10/31/the-great-chinese-evtol-revolution/
[15] https://www.unmannedairspace.info/urban-air-mobility/first-commercial-evtol-route-announced-hong-kong-to-shenzhen/
[16] https://www.ehang.com/news/1042.html
[17] https://ir.ehang.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ehang-and-shenzhen-baoan-district-form-strategic-partnership
[18] https://www.ehang.com/news/822.html
[19] https://www.ainonline.com/news-article/2021-09-16/heli-eastern-starts-trial-operations-ehangs-eh216-evtol-china
[20] https://www.ehang.com/news/649.html
[21] https://www.news.cn/fortune/20240603/e51484eac62740de9bb77962048441e5/c.html
[22] https://madeinchinajournal.com/2025/08/12/city-in-the-sky-drones-shenzhen-and-the-low-altitude-economy/
[23] chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.chinautc.com/upload/accessorychinautc/202512/20251219141216687906.pdf
[24] https://www.internationalairportreview.com/picture-of-the-week-autoflight-unveils-world-first-sea-and-air-evtol-mobility-solution/539840.article
[25] https://www.autoflight.com/en/news/autoflight-unveils-zero-carbon-water-vertiport-debuts-worlds-first-int/
[26] https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2026-06-12/indonesia-approves-autoflights-autonomous-evtol-aircraft
[27] https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2026-06-25/hong-kong-officials-start-evtol-aircraft-flight-trials
[28] https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202606/12/WS6a2b798ca310d6866eb4deb3.html
[29] https://www.autoflight.com/en/news/autoflight-unveils-zero-carbon-water-vertiport-debuts-worlds-first-int/
[30] https://www.urbanairport.com/uap-blog/urban-air-port-and-hangzhou-starports-tech-announce-transformative-partnership-to-lead-vertiport-development-in-chinas-1-trillion-low-altitude-economy
[31] https://en.shhqcbd.gov.cn/2026-01/07/c_1153603.htm
[32] https://www.autoflight.com/en/news/autoflights-tc-application/
