AutoFlight Partners with Yueyang on Low-Altitude Economy
Strategic cooperation aims to build new low-altitude economy benchmark.
AutoFlight announced today that it has reached a strategic cooperation with Yueyang City in central China’s Hunan Province to jointly build a new benchmark for the low-altitude economy in regions characterized by major rivers and lakes.
Under the deal, Yueyang Economic Development Zone, Yueyang Urban Operation Group, AutoFlight, and Zhongzhou General Aviation (中洲通航) will focus on low-altitude cultural tourism, linking surrounding urban tourism resources and transportation nodes to establish a cross-regional low-altitude cultural tourism transportation network.
The framework also includes developing an operational system covering water-land-air logistics, low-altitude cultural tourism, emergency rescue, and air transportation.
According to AutoFlight, the initiative combines the company’s eVTOL aircraft and low-altitude full-chain solutions with Yueyang’s geographical landscape of major rivers and lakes and cultural tourism resources, including Yueyang Tower, Junshan Island, and Dongting Lake.
The partnership will follow a phased development approach of cargo before passengers, isolation before integration, and outer suburbs before urban areas, according to the agreement.
As part of the agreement, AutoFlight will establish a Hunan regional final assembly and delivery center in Yueyang. The facility will include final assembly and delivery, display, training, and maintenance functions.
Through technical collaboration and resource integration, the company said it plans to attract upstream and downstream enterprises in manufacturing, data services, insurance and finance, as well as study and education sectors, with the aim of building a low-altitude economy ecosystem in Yueyang and Hunan Province.
The eVTOL maker added that in logistics and transportation, Yueyang’s position along the Dongting Lake golden waterway and its role as a regional trade hub create demand for transporting aquatic products, fresh produce, and Hunan-specific agricultural goods.
The low-altitude logistics solution combining eVTOL aircraft with water airports is designed to enable point-to-point rapid transportation of fresh goods within the lake region, improving efficiency and timeliness of regional distribution.
In cultural tourism, Yueyang plans to conduct pilot projects aligned with local tourism characteristics.
Through eVTOL low-altitude flights, the city aims to create an immersive experience of viewing Yueyang from the air and touring rivers and lakes from above, combining ground-based travel with rapid aerial sightseeing and broader regional connectivity around landmarks such as Yueyang Tower and the surrounding landscape of Dongting Lake.
The signing included a demonstration of what appears to be a firefighting variant based on the company’s CarryAll cargo 2-ton eVTOL platform.
The aircraft took off from the SUNSHIP “zero-carbon water airport,” flew to Dongting Lake, circled for dozens of kilometers, and then landed at a flight camp, linking Yueyang’s cultural tourism landmarks.
AutoFlight said the demonstration showcased large-scale eVTOL technology and the deployment of zero-carbon water airports.
It also served as a field verification of multi-dimensional “low-altitude +” application scenarios, providing operational data and experience to support potential future services within the low-altitude economy framework.