Chinese AAM provider EHang Holdings' EH216-series pilotless eVTOL aircraft has successfully completed a point-to-point flight across the Qiongzhou Strait. The aircraft departed from Nanhai Mingzhu Island in Haikou City, Hainan Province, and arrived at Xuwen Port in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, completing the 22-kilometre journey in 18 minutes. This represents a significant reduction from the typical 60-90 minute ferry crossing, improving travel efficiency by approximately 70-80 per cent. This validates the technical capabilities and efficiency of pilotless eVTOLs in over-water operations and lays a solid technological foundation for future coordinated low-altitude mobility development between Hainan and Guangdong Provinces.

The EH216-series aircraft that successfully crossed the strait is equipped with a high-energy solid-state battery co-developed by EHang and its partner Inx Energy. This flight effectively demonstrates the stable performance of this battery in complex environments, such as over-water eVTOL operations, providing strong technical support for diverse applications including cross-strait transportation, island tourism, maritime emergency response and island logistics. It also paves the way for effective inter-provincial connectivity and extends to longer-range flights covering multiple cities within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, enabling inter-city passenger and cargo transport and accelerating the commercialisation of the low-altitude economy.

EHang, in collaboration with its partners, has actively conducted application scenario flights under various weather conditions and terrains worldwide. It has accumulated extensive safe flight data in environments exceeding 3,000 metres in altitude, extreme cold and heat, typhoons, rain, snow, and over rivers, lakes and seas. This experience provided crucial support and assurance for this cross-strait flight. The EHang team completed route planning, weather surveying and all necessary flight support preparations in the shortest time possible. The aircraft achieved stable flight across the strait under conditions of long distance and rapidly changing winds and waves, showcasing its high-redundancy safety performance and validating the leading capabilities of EHang's pilotless aircraft.

The flight was witnessed by distinguished guests at the ‘Soaring Skyward’ event series in the Hainan Free Trade Port, including Dong Zhiyi, chief low-altitude economy expert at the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics and former deputy administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China; Xiao Faxuan, chairman of Hainan Airport Group; Luo Hongxia, secretary of Xuwen County, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province; Mr. Liu Libo, chairman of Pengcheng Low-Altitude Economy Industry Development (Shenzhen) and executive president of the Greater Bay Area Low-Altitude Economy UAV Association; Wang Dong, vice president of EHang and general manager of EHang General Aviation; and He Tianxing, vice president of EHang. As the first pilotless human-carrying eVTOL to cross the Qiongzhou Strait, the EH216-series received high praise for its safe and stable performance.

With the Hainan Free Trade Port now fully operational under its special customs regime, a range of tailored low-altitude application scenarios are emerging. These encompass low-altitude passenger transport to alleviate congestion across the Qiongzhou Strait, cross-border logistics to enhance the Port's circulation efficiency and cross-strait tourism linking the cultural resources of Hainan and Guangdong.

This EH216-series flight serves not only to validate the technology for these post-customs-closure scenarios but also to establish a potential low-altitude corridor between Hainan and Guangdong. This will further help EHang solidify its development foundation across both provinces, foster international exchange and cultivate a low-altitude application ecosystem, thereby injecting new momentum into Hainan's low-altitude economy and the cultivation of new quality productive forces for the Free Trade Port.

Faxuan, chairman of Hainan Airport Group, stated in his address: “EHang's successful pilotless eVTOL flight across the Qiongzhou Strait is a vivid example of innovative development in Hainan's low-altitude economy. We will seize the opportunity presented by the Free Trade Port's special customs operations to build a pioneer zone for low-altitude economy applications, empowering industrial development through practical applications and making the low-altitude economy a new growth engine for the Free Trade Port. We will also deepen collaboration between Hainan Province and Guangdong Province, integrate policy and industrial resources across both provinces, facilitate smooth cross-province air mobility and unite powerful synergies for low-altitude economy development, thereby infusing greater vitality into the Hainan Free Trade Port.”

Wang Zhao, chief operating officer of EHang, adds: “The successful crossing of the Qiongzhou Strait by our EH216-series pilotless eVTOL validates its adaptability and the efficiency gains it brings in complex environments like over-water routes. This achievement is also a significant result of our collaboration with partners to comprehensively enhance core safety performance and jointly build a diverse application ecosystem. Coinciding with the historic opportunity of the Hainan Free Trade Port's special customs operations, the low-altitude economy, a key emerging sector for the Port, is facing promising growth prospects. EHang will leverage this opportunity to continue empowering diverse applications in Hainan, including long-distance logistics and emergency response, with our pilotless aircraft technology. We are committed to supporting Hainan in building a national innovation and demonstration hub for the low-altitude economy.”

EHang has also completed the first public flight of its next-generation long-range, compound-wing, autonomous passenger eVTOL VT-35 at Feidong Bailong Airport in Hefei, Anhui Province.

The flight fully validated the VT-35's safety, stability and reliability, and marked a further deepening of EHang's strategic cooperation with the City of Hefei in advancing the low-altitude economy, entering a new phase of diversified application and deployment.

Zhao Wang, COO of EHang, comments: “As a leading hub for low-altitude economy innovation in China, Hefei offers a strong industrial ecosystem and robust policy support. The first public flight of the VT-35 in Hefei not only highlights EHang's technological capabilities and market recognition in advanced air mobility, but also signals that Hefei's low-altitude economy has entered a critical stage of diversified development. Looking ahead, EHang will continue to leverage Hefei as a key strategic base, delivering high-quality products and services to support the high-quality development of China's low-altitude economy.”