Low-altitude economy helps Wanzhi town fly high

HEFEI — Sun Mengqin, a Gen Z aviation science popularization specialist, never imagined that her hometown — Wanzhi town in Wuhu city, East China's Anhui province — would benefit so much from the booming aviation industry, a field she had known little about before.

Sun's story is closely linked to the rise of Wuhu's low-altitude economy, which took center stage at the 2025 Emerging Air Economy Development Conference held recently in Wuhu. The event attracted overseas guests from more than 10 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Canada and Australia.

Driven by both domestic policies and rapidly growing market demand, China's low-altitude economy has enjoyed robust growth in recent years. According to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, in the first half of 2025, traditional general aviation operations reached 570,000 flight hours. The number of registered unmanned aerial vehicles reached 2.73 million, with a cumulative flight time of 24.47 million hours — a year-on-year increase of 149 percent.

At the conference, a diverse array of state-of-the-art aviation products took the spotlight, including aerial emergency command aircraft, intelligent flight control systems, and facade-cleaning drones. These impressive displays vividly showcased the vitality of China's low-altitude economy.

"I'm proud to introduce more teenagers to aviation and the low-altitude economy right here in my hometown," said Sun, emphasizing that a domestically developed general aviation aircraft can be produced from blueprint to finished product — all within this small town of Wanzhi, and with fully independent intellectual property rights.

Nestled along the Yangtze River, Wanzhi used to be a quiet agricultural town, but now it's buzzing with over 200 aviation-related companies.

The year 2013 marked the beginning of Wanzhi's "takeoff", as it seized the opportunity presented by a local airport's construction to develop its general aviation industry. A number of aviation enterprises, including CETC Wuhu Diamond Aircraft Manufacture company, established their presence in the town. In 2024, Wuhu's low-altitude economy generated revenue of 46.38 billion yuan ($6.5 billion), a year-on-year increase of 15.95 percent.

Within its 3.49-square-kilometer area, the aviation town in Wanzhi boasts a fully integrated industrial chain that spans from aviation component manufacturing to R&D, production, maintenance and operation of both general aviation aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.

"Overseas orders are growing rapidly this year, and we expect revenue growth to exceed 40 percent," said Tian Manlin, general manager of CETC Wuhu Diamond Aircraft Manufacture. Tian added that while strengthening its presence in the domestic market, the company is accelerating its expansion into overseas markets such as Southeast Asia.

"In 2024, we purchased an aircraft from Wuhu for pilot training, and the order was delivered in just three months," said Piboon Vorravanpreecha, managing director of Thai Aviation Industries. He noted that the company was impressed by the cost-effectiveness and reliable after-sales service of the Wuhu-manufactured aircraft and has decided to deepen cooperation in distribution and maintenance with Wuhu in 2025.

According to Tian, the aviation town is nothing short of a "dream factory", where core components such as general aviation engines, avionics systems and propellers can now be both manufactured and repaired in Wuhu.

At an aviation camp located about 20 km north of Wuxuan airport, which sits on the border between the cities of Wuhu and Xuancheng in Anhui, tourists and aviation enthusiasts were waiting to board small fixed-wing aircraft for a bird's-eye view of Wuhu's urban landscape.

A few years back, Wang Yuzheng, then chairman of an aviation company in Anhui, made the decision to go back to his hometown. He wanted to turn his passion for aviation into reality by founding this aviation camp.

"The low-altitude economy has transitioned from a conceptual stage into a phase of rapid growth," Wang said. "We aim to explore innovative cultural and tourism applications for low-altitude airspace, turning this emerging sector into tangible convenience in people's daily lives."

Xinhua