MKsportsdisplayed at the EHang Holding in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province on July 18, 2024. Photo: Tu Lei/GT " src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2024/2024-08-01/40fe38c1-0042-4fe7-b4cb-87b4d3d637c6.jpeg" />

An electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft is displayed at the EHang Holding in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province on July 18, 2024. Photo: Tu Lei/GT

Two Chinese companies have received the first-ever civil unmanned aircraft Operator Certificate (OC) issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the Global Times learned on Sunday.

It marks the first time that China’s civil aviation regulator issued the certificate for passenger-carrying civil unmanned aircraft, signaling the start of commercial operation in China’s low-altitude aviation sector and also a milestone in development of the low-altitude economy and urban air mobility, according to a report by the China Central Television (CCTV) on Sunday. 

The OC, issued by CAAC, used to confirm that the autonomous passenger drone meets the country’s safety operation standards. The companies with the operation certificates can carry out commercial operations in approved air space, provide paid passenger services, the CCTV report said.

The CCTV report compared developing low-altitude economy to “building cars,” noting that while the three certificates – Type Certificate, Production Certificate, and Airworthiness Certificate – confirm whether “a car can be built,” the OC determines whether “a car can operate on the road.”

The two OC certificates were granted to Chinese drone makers EHang Holdings Limited in South China’s Guangdong Province, and Hefei Hey Airlines Co in East China’s Anhui Province. 

EHang Holdings’ EH216-S, operated by the two companies, is the world’s first and China’s only passenger-carrying unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that to have obtained all three certificates, the Global Times learned from EHang. Having successfully completed over 60,000 safe flights, the eVTOL is set to facilitate urban air mobility, logistics, and sightseeing tourism, and the issuance of the OC certificate marks the beginning of the commercialization of urban air mobility to the general public, Ehang said in a statement sent to the Global Times.