In March, the hottest subject of the entire A-share market, the low-altitude economic sector must be counted as one. Behind the hype, the stock prices of many companies have risen amazingly, some have doubled, and some have even boarded.
What is the catalyst behind the plate hype? What is the scale of the low-altitude economy industry? Are ordinary consumers still far from "flying"?
The secondary market is hot
A few days ago, the concept of "low-altitude economy" in the A-share market soared into the sky and became the "most beautiful boy" in the secondary market. According to data, the Straight Flush low-altitude economic sector has risen by 90.84% since bottoming out on February 6. On the 20-day rise and fall list, Wanfeng Aowei and Jindun shares rose by more than 100%, and Yongyue Technology, Zongheng Shares, Shuangyi Technology, Shangluo Electronics, and Rice Information all rose by more than 80%.
Year-to-date, in this round of low-altitude economic concept hype, Wanfeng Aowei is undoubtedly the most eye-catching, with an increase of 192.11%, a proper sector leader. According to public information, Wanfeng Aowei started with motorcycle wheels and auto parts, and gradually expanded the boundaries of its business to the aviation industry.
In 2014, Wanfeng Aowei entered the aviation track. On February 5 this year, Wanfeng Aowei announced that its subsidiary Wanfeng Aircraft will establish a joint venture with a well-known automobile OEM in the world and carry out in-depth cooperation in the field of eVTOL. This became the fuse that detonated Wanfeng Aowei's stock price.
The new star EHang listed on the U.S. stock market has also attracted attention in the secondary market. In 2019, the company landed on the NASDAQ market with the halo of "the world's first urban air mobility company". This year, EHang's share price has more than doubled from a minimum of $9.51 per share. In particular, it is worth mentioning that on March 18, the company launched eVTOL products on Taobao, which sparked heated discussions, and the stock price rose by up to 30% in a single day.
When the concept of "low-altitude economy" stocks was speculated, some listed companies issued announcements to cool down the hot market. Lihang Technology, which has 6 boards, said that there is currently no business income from the low-altitude economic field. Jindun shares, whose share price has doubled, announced that the company's flying car-related products are still in the research and development stage and have not yet been applied. 2. Shanggong Shenbei, who connected the board, said that the company's main business is the research and development, production and sales of industrial sewing machines.
Although the secondary market has set off a hype boom, it will still take time for the low-altitude economy to be truly fully commercialized. For investors, it is still necessary to be cautious when participating in investments.
Nuggets trillion tracks
eVTOL is undoubtedly the initiator of this round of low-altitude economic concept hype. This product, known as the "air taxi", is more environmentally friendly and safer than helicopters, and the key is that the cost is much lower. Many industry insiders believe that this is a solution for the future of urban air mobility.
The tide is surging, and many manufacturers have released eVTOL-related products. The first thing that attracted the attention of the market was the first demonstration flight of the world's first eVTOL cross-city and cross-bay route. The route has a flight distance of more than 55 kilometers and takes 20 minutes, and is operated by the eVTOL independently developed by Fengfei Airlines. It is reported that the aircraft will start manned flights in 2026, and the single-seat ticket price is expected to be about 300 yuan.
In addition, GAC Group's flying car GOVE has also completed flight verification in a complex low-altitude environment for the first time. Xpeng Huitian Flying Car Voyager X2 also completed low-altitude flight. On March 25, it was reported that the flying body of the Xiaopeng Huitian "Land Aircraft Carrier" flying car was about to enter the airworthiness certification stage.
According to the data of the Civil Aviation Administration, by the end of 2023, there will be 689 general aviation enterprises in the mainland, 3,173 registered general aviation aircraft, 451 general airports, and 1.357 million operating flight hours throughout the year, with an average annual growth rate of more than 12% in the past three years, and about 2,000 UAV design and manufacturing units, nearly 20,000 operating enterprises, 1.267 million registered UAVs in China, a year-on-year increase of 32.2%, and 23.11 million flight hours, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%.
More and more manufacturers are cutting into the low-altitude economic track, highlighting the rich market demand. Some institutions predict that the scale of the mainland's low-altitude economic market will exceed 500 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan by 2030. The low-altitude economy may become a new engine of economic growth.
From the perspective of the global market, some institutions predict that the size of the flying car market may reach 300 billion US dollars in 2030, exceed the trillion dollar mark in 2040, and by 2050, there will be 98,000 flying cars over major cities around the world.
Policies to help "fly"?
Flying cars are not new, and they suddenly exploded this spring, thanks to Zheng Ceduan's intensive catalysis.
At the end of 2023, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued the "National Airspace Basic Classification Method", which provides a practical basis for the opening of airspace and opens up a clearer development space for the low-altitude economy.
At the same time, "developing the low-altitude economy" has become one of the key contents of the mainland's layout of strategic emerging industries. This year's government work report also proposes to actively build new growth engines such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy. In particular, the "low-altitude economy" was written into the government work report for the first time, which aroused great concern in the market. The chairman of AutoNavi Infrared sighed, "The spring of low-altitude economic development is coming!"
Subsequently, various localities have increased their efforts to deploy low-altitude economies, and eVTOL has frequently appeared in documents in various places.
Guangdong clearly proposed to support Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai to build comprehensive demonstration zones for the general aviation industry and create a low-altitude economic and industrial highland in the Greater Bay Area. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai and other places have successively introduced low-altitude economic industrial layout and support policies, and have laid out to build a "sky city".
The Anhui Provincial General Aviation Flight Service Station assisted the Provincial General Aviation Coordination and Management Service Center to submit the "2024 Anhui Province Low-altitude Airspace Route Planning Plan" and was successfully approved, with 3 new low-altitude routes compared with last year.
Debang Securities issued a document pointing out that 2023 to 2023 is a critical year for the accelerated development of the low-altitude economy, with strong policy support, and the acquisition of airworthiness certificates by enterprises has also ushered in an acceleration, and it is expected that the entire industry will enter an explosive stage in 2030.
Under the background of the resonance of industry and policy, can the low-altitude economy take advantage of the situation to "take off" and let more people realize their dream of "flying"? At present, if flying cars want to "fly into the homes of ordinary people," they still need to further improve technology, policies, and facilities.