Drones take off and land in an orderly manner at the public take-off and landing site in the northern part of Hangzhou's Shenhua area in winter, taking only over 10 minutes from order placement to delivery - this is no longer a sci-fi movie scene, but a commercial reality happening now.

New Era of Sky Commerce

In early 2026, in the north of Hangzhou city, a drone carrying documents sliced through the clear air and landed steadily at the public takeoff and landing site in the Shenhua area. From placing the order to "parachuting" delivery, the entire process only takes over 10 minutes.

At almost the same time, Shanghai Renji Hospital's newly opened low altitude drone medical sample delivery route is increasing the delivery time of samples in three hospital sections by 50% to 58%.

These seemingly small scenes are piecing together a grand vision.

By 2025, there will be 52 financing cases in China's low altitude economy track, a year-on-year increase of 48.6%. Capital has cast a vote of trust in the sky economy with real money and silver.

CCID Research Institute predicts that 2026 will be a key turning point for the large-scale and high-quality development of China's low altitude economy.

The number of low altitude economy related enterprises in China has exceeded 86500, with about 9200 new registrations in the first four months, a year-on-year increase of over 200%.

Three major golden tracks are emerging

In the face of the trillion dollar blue ocean market, investment institutions are focusing on three core tracks.

EVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) and core components remain the focus of capital attention, with 17 financing cases in the first half of 2025, accounting for 32.7% of the total. The whole machine heat is gradually shifting towards core technology breakthroughs, and key links such as hydrogen power breakthroughs, main control chips, and flight control systems have become new investment focuses.

Industrial grade drones are widely used in logistics, security, surveying and other fields, with 8 financing cases in the first half of 2025. At the same time, the drone countermeasure system, as the "guardian" of low altitude security, has also entered the capital's field of vision.

It is worth mentioning that the issue of "black flying" highlights the urgency of security needs. In the second quarter of 2025, the number of illegal drone flight cases investigated and dealt with nationwide increased by 42% year-on-year.

Low altitude infrastructure and operational services are becoming a new focus of competition in various regions. By the end of 2025, more than 20 cities across the country have issuedspecial plans for low altitude takeoff and landing points. Shenzhen has proposed to build over 1200 low altitude take-off and landing sites by the end of 2026, while Hangzhou has basically completed the construction of 14 public take-off and landing sites.

Formation of regional competition pattern

The investment map of low altitude economy shows obvious regional agglomeration characteristics.

Guangdong Province, Shanghai City, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, and Sichuan Province have become investment highlands, with a total of 36 financing cases, accounting for 69.2% of the total number of cases. Differentiated development paths have been formed in various regions.

The Pearl River Delta region, with Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Zhuhai as its core, has a complete drone industry chain; The Yangtze River Delta region is centered around Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hefei, and Suzhou, focusing on high-end manufacturing and research and development; Exploring the construction of low altitude networks in the Chengdu Chongqing region; The Beijing Tianjin Hebei region has shown outstanding performance in high-end research and development and airworthiness certification.

Hangzhou's low altitude economic strategy is unique. The city is committed to building a "leading city in the national low altitude economy" and constructing a low altitude flight service guarantee system through the innovative practice of "one platform, one network, and one ecology".

Hangzhou Low altitude Company adheres to the principle of "building sites with scene requirements" and explores a new path of "using scenes to create space and gathering industries with space". At present, more than 400 low altitude economy related enterprises have gathered in the city, basically achieving full coverage of the industrial chain.

In Baohe District, Hefei, Yihang Intelligent's long-range unmanned eVTOL has completed its first public flight demonstration; In Nansha District, Guangzhou, Xiaopeng Huitian's flying car is about to start commercial trial operation; In Songjiang, Shanghai, drone instructors are leading twice as many students as last year to reserve professional talents for the future low altitude economy.

With the multiple overlaps of technological breakthroughs, infrastructure layout, and business model innovation, China's low altitude economy is steadily moving from "being able to fly" to "being able to use and use it well". This is no longer just a capital chase game, but a systematic project related to urban transportation reconstruction, regional economic reshaping, and human living space expansion.Editor/Yang Meiling