On February 23, Meituan UAV was officially approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and obtained the "Approval Letter for the Trial Operation of Specific UAVs" and the "General Aviation Enterprise Operation License", which also indicates that it has the domestic compliance license required for commercialization.
Times Finance found that Meituan's drone business has been widely recruited in Beijing and Shenzhen, and the recruitment efforts are very large.
However, although Meituan's drone business has achieved considerable results in Shenzhen, it still faces obstacles such as low-altitude opening if it wants to be replicated on a large scale in other cities. This is not only the dilemma of the Meituan family, but also the general dilemma of domestic general aviation companies that are poised to take off.
Meituan UAV has been certified by the Civil Aviation Administration
On February 23, Meituan's drone team announced that its urban low-altitude logistics solution has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and obtained the "Approval Letter for Trial Operation of Specific UAVs" and "General Aviation Enterprise Operation License" issued by the department.
The operation scenario applied for approval by Meituan this time is mainly in the airspace below 120 meters in densely populated urban areas, and the use of drones to operate at over-the-horizon (that is, drones operating outside the field of view of staff) for logistics distribution.
The relevant staff of the Civil Aviation Administration of China said that the scenario is complex and has high risks, and the technical safety and reliability requirements of the operator are high, and the review process is more cautious.
According to Yang Junwei, head of UAV operations at Meituan, the relevant validation work began in early 2021, during which the team initially completed the research and development of aircraft, automated airports and intelligent dispatching systems.
Low-altitude drones in cities are quite suitable for takeaway delivery. Mao Yi, president of Meituan UAV, explained a year ago that users have higher and higher requirements for the speed and quality of takeaway delivery, "For example, hot or iced meals and drinks need to maintain the temperature to deliver to users, coffee pullers, milk tea milk covers, users need it to maintain the quality when they are just ready, emergency medicines, fresh food, etc. There are time-sensitive needs." ”
On February 24, Times Finance found on the social platform of Meituan UAV that the fastest order delivered by its drone was basically between 6 minutes and 10 minutes.
The data shows that the current average order delivery time of Meituan drones is about 12 minutes, which is nearly 150% more efficient than the average delivery time of nearly 30 minutes in the traditional mode.
By the end of 2022, Meituan's trial operation routes in Shenzhen have landed in 5 business districts, covering 18 communities and office buildings, and delivering goods covering catering, beauty, FMCG, supermarkets, electronic products and other types.
It is worth noting that this approval also marks that Meituan UAV has the domestic compliance license required for commercialization.
At the same time, Times Finance found that Meituan's drone business group is recruiting a large number of people in Beijing and Shenzhen, and the efforts are very large.
A job search app shows that its recruitment range includes drone flight design experts, software development engineers, R&D test architects, security system builders, algorithm experts, drone delivery product managers, etc., with an annual salary of about 300,000-1 million.
Screenshot: Source: Recruitment App
Many provinces and cities in China have opened low-altitude airspace
Times Finance noticed that Meituan is not the only one that is working on the low-altitude economy.
Domestic express logistics leader SF Holding (002352. SZ), as early as 2021, the official operation of large logistics drones began. At present, it has opened up cross-sea routes such as Xuwen County-Haikou Xiuying District, Shanghai Jinshan-Zhejiang Zhoushan, Shenzhen Nanshan-Zhuhai Xiangzhou, Shenzhen Dapeng-Shenzhen Longgang and other UAV logistics routes.
In addition, SF UAV is trying to start test flights in special areas such as high-altitude counties in the west and coastal islands.
The helicopter low-altitude operation company Eastern General Aviation, focusing on business charter flights, air tours, emergency rescue and other businesses. At present, it has realized intercity flights from Shenzhen Bao'an Airport, Zhuhai Jiuzhou Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to various tourist attractions, CBD in the downtown area, and Grade A office buildings in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
On February 21, some people in the civil aviation industry pointed out to Times Finance that the lack of low-altitude opening is the biggest policy obstacle hindering the development of China's general aviation market. In recent months, many cities and provinces in China have made breakthroughs in this regard.
As of August 2021, Hunan, Jiangxi and Anhui are the three pilot provinces of low-altitude airspace management reform in China.
As the first pilot province, Hunan was the first to introduce the country's first provincial-level airspace delimitation plan, and took the lead in issuing the country's first military, civilian, and civilian joint low-altitude airspace coordinated operation method, the latter as the support for the implementation of the former, focusing on solving the problem of "how to use, how to manage and who to manage the low-altitude airspace and visual routes".
In 2023, many provinces and cities in China have issued low-altitude economic plans, which means that there is more and more room for domestic general aviation enterprises to show their talents.
On February 14, 2023, Shenzhen wrote "low-altitude economy" into the government work report for the first time, proposing to build a low-altitude economic center, build a comprehensive demonstration area for the general aviation industry, a civil unmanned aviation test zone, and promote the terminal distribution of drones.
Shenzhen has been at the forefront of the country in low-altitude economy, and has previously introduced many incentive policies. At the end of 2022, the relevant research institutes released the "Low Altitude Economy White Paper - Shenzhen Plan", proposing to transform low-altitude airspace from "natural resources" to "economic resources", and invited leading enterprises in three subdivisions (SF UAV, Meituan UAV, Eastern Airlines) to conduct dialogues on low-altitude economy.
In late February, the Action Plan for Cooperation between Provincial Capital Cities of the Yangtze River Midstream City Cluster (2023-2025) was announced, and Changsha, Nanchang, Hefei and Wuhan will jointly establish a general aviation industry alliance in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, jointly explore the development of helicopter transportation services, and build a rapid air transportation network within the urban agglomeration.
On February 20, 2023, Anhui Province deployed and promoted the key work of low-altitude reform pilot in 2023, proposing to focus on key areas such as R&D, manufacturing, maintenance and operation, encourage the opening of low-altitude routes, and cultivate and innovate scene applications.
A few days ago, on February 17, the second batch of low-altitude pilot airspace and routes in Anhui Province were also approved, and compared with the first batch of approvals, the airspace and routes increased by 100% and 50% respectively.
On February 21, the "Hunan Province Cultivation General Aviation Industry Work Plan" was released, which aims to release the dividends of low-altitude airspace management reform in the whole region. The plan proposes to lay out and build 5,000 temporary take-off and landing points, create a number of characteristic navigation towns, accelerate the declaration of civil unmanned aviation test zones, and accelerate the normalization, grid and popularization of routes in the province.
The macro team of Great Wall Securities pointed out that the market size of the three major businesses of the mainland general aviation industry (general aviation services, aircraft manufacturing, and additional tourism) may reach more than 300 billion yuan in 2025.
On February 24, when Times Finance searched for "general aviation" on Tianyancha, it found that there were nearly 20,000 domestic companies involved in general aviation-related industries.
General aviation refers to the use of civil aircraft to engage in civil aviation activities other than public air transportation, including operational flights in industry, agriculture, forestry, fishery and construction, as well as flight activities in medical and health, rescue and disaster relief, meteorological exploration, marine exploration and other aspects.
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