A BELL505 helicopter from the Xingye Flight Base in Shanghai's Pudong New Area on Jan 14 completed a 15-minute test flight and landed successfully on the lawn of a park next to Amanyangyun, a luxury hotel in the city's Minhang district, marking the successful test flight of Shanghai's first low-altitude passenger route connecting administrative regions within the city and the first direct low-altitude passenger route to a hotel.

A low-altitude passenger route linking Pudong and Minhang completes a successful test flight on Jan 14. [Photo/WeChat ID: pdnews]

The test flight aligns with plans for the high-quality development of Shanghai's low-altitude economy industry, which aims to establish Shanghai and neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region as the country's first batch of low-altitude cross-provincial destinations. The plan outlines diverse business scenarios, including logistics, emergency rescue, low-altitude cultural tourism, smart cities, and manned transportation, striving to achieve over 100 applications of low-altitude flight services and comprehensively expand the development boundaries of the low-altitude economy.

This low-altitude passenger route will greatly enhance the transportation convenience and accessibility of Amanyangyun. A representative of the hotel said that guests can now reach the hotel in just over 10 minutes by air, significantly reducing travel time and providing a more efficient and convenient travel option.

Industry insiders believe that the successful test flight of this low-altitude passenger route from Pudong to Minhang represents a breakthrough in the development of urban transportation. The new route is expected to positively impact hotel operations, passenger travel, and urban development, ushering in a new era of urban low-altitude transportation.