A helicopter fully loaded with passengers completes its test flight from Shanghai Pudong Software Park to Qidong Linyang Park in neighboring Jiangsu province on Feb 18, 2025. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
A helicopter fully loaded with passengers recently completed its test flight from Shanghai's Pudong Software Park to Qidong Linyang Park in neighboring Jiangsu province, marking another step forward in low-altitude passenger transport development and connectivity advancement in the Yangtze River Delta region.
Flying across the Yangtze River and Chongming Island, the flight route has greatly reduced the transportation time between Shanghai's Pudong New Area and Qidong. While the trip usually takes 1.5 hours, the helicopter flight only took 20 minutes, significantly improving transport efficiency in the region.
A helicopter fully loaded with passengers completes its test flight from Shanghai Pudong Software Park to Qidong Linyang Park in neighboring Jiangsu province on Feb 18, 2025. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
This test flight route also marks the start of the construction of a low-altitude transportation network in the YRD region. Plans are underway for additional low-altitude passenger transport routes connecting Shanghai's Lin-gang Special Area, Jiading and Songjiang districts, Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, and Kunshan in Jiangsu province. According to the Pudong district government, over 100 helipads for helicopters and eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft are set to be built across 45 cities, counties and districts in the region.
A helicopter fully loaded with passengers completes its test flight from Shanghai Pudong Software Park to Qidong Linyang Park in neighboring Jiangsu province, on Feb 18, 2025.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Shanghai has been making efforts to boost the high-quality growth of its low-altitude economy. In August, the Shanghai government released an action plan for this sector, highlighting the construction of a comprehensive industrial system with a core industrial scale exceeding 50 billion yuan ($6.89 billion) by 2027. That same month, an interprovincial low-altitude passenger transport route connecting Shanghai Pudong International Airport with the Kunshan City Terminal in Jiangsu province commenced commercial operations.
