Aviation China: First Regular Logistics Route with an Unmanned Cargo Drone

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On board were only around 200 kilos of blueberry juice and a couple of express packages, but the flight made history. The unmanned, autonomously flying drone of the type "CarryAll V2000CG" completed its first commercial mission on September 18, 2025.

With the flight, a regular unmanned drone cargo route has been established between the blueberry-growing region around Huaining County in Anhui Province and the provincial capital Hefei, which has a large market for agricultural products. The 161-kilometer flight (approx. 100 miles) took one hour, reports the China Daily. It is seen as a milestone in the development of China's "Low Altitude Economy" in the logistics sector, particularly for the low-altitude economy involving large cargo drones. The blueberry eVTOL weighs two tons and can transport up to 400 kilograms of cargo.

Developed by the startup AutoFlight in Shanghai, founded only in 2019, it is the first drone of this size (weighing more than one ton) worldwide to successfully receive the green light from regulatory authorities for regular, commercial cargo flights, in this case from the Chinese aviation authority CAAC.

eVTOL ideal for logistics sector

The eVTOL combines the advantages of a helicopter, as it can take off and land vertically even when fully loaded and requires little space, with those of a fixed-wing aircraft, offering it a travel speed of 200 km/h and a range of 200 kilometers (approx. 120 miles), as reported by the Chinese science newspaper Keji Ribao.

In August, the same drone had already made headlines when it landed on an offshore oil platform anchored about 150 kilometers (approx. 90 miles) from Shenzhen in the South China Sea. That flight took 58 minutes, and Chinese media emphasized that the delivery of fresh fruit for the crew, emergency medical supplies, and other goods for the platform usually takes place by ship and takes around ten hours.

This was still a test flight, jointly conducted by the "China National Offshore Oil Corporation" (CNOOC), CITIC Offshore Helicopter, and Autoflight. However, the large unmanned drone is reportedly cheaper in the long run than helicopters, which are used alongside boats to supply such oil and gas platforms, the Global Times quoted an employee of the flight operator. Moreover, the e-drones are emission-free and have such a short response time that they surpass any helicopter crew in terms of speed during emergencies, according to the operator.

Tourist sightseeing flights

In addition to logistics for transporting agricultural and other goods and for supply flights to oil platforms, drones are increasingly being used this year in China for tourist sightseeing flights. In Shenyang, in northern China, initial test flights for this purpose have been conducted. The Jiangxi province has started tourist flights along the "Ganpo Air Corridor."

Several manufacturers in China are currently leaving the testing phase behind and are starting to do business with their drones both domestically and internationally. For example, "Guizhou Scenic Tourism Development Co., Ltd." placed an order for 50 EH216-S drones with EHang Intelligent in June, according to the Chinese industry portal Dianzi Gongcheng Shijie.

Ehang was the first manufacturer to receive a license for "manned eVTOL flight services for end consumers" and also attracted attention at this year's "Paris Air Show." Its EH216-S, like Autoflight's two-ton device, is powered purely electrically. Ever-improving batteries, especially solid-state batteries and their predecessors ("semi-solid"), enable increasingly greater ranges and the transport of more payload.

The Chinese government in Beijing is heavily invested in the low-altitude economy, seeing "great potential," as also commented by the state-affiliated Global Times. This also applies to exports. The startup TCAB Tech (Shidi Keji) announced in mid-July that it could sell 350 of its "E20" drones to the operator Autocraft in the United Arab Emirates. A corresponding memorandum of understanding for the deal has been signed by both parties. It reportedly has a total value of one billion US dollars, according to the Global Times. (se)