Source: Interface News (March 17, 2025 ), Reporter: Liu Sunan, Editor: Peng Peng
Photo credit: Volant
Recently, Dong Ming, the founder and CEO of Volant Airlines, revealed to Interface News that at the beginning of 2025, China Southern Airlines, Asia Jet Aviation and Volant Airlines formally signed the first batch of confirmed orders for the VE25-100 eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, commonly known as "air cab"). Up to now, the company has signed more than 860 strategic cooperation and intentional orders, with an intentional order amount of more than 22 billion yuan.
In recent years, with breakthroughs in battery, motor and other technologies, as well as policy-based impetus such as airspace reform, eVTOL, as a new type of urban air transportation solution, is highly sought after by capital and industry. Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2040, the global eVTOL market will reach $1 trillion.
In China, the host factory represented by Volant Aviation has rapidly risen to become a leading company in the field of eVTOL. CITIC Securities said in a recent research report that 2025 is expected to be the first year of eVTOL commercial operation.
Interface News interview was informed that a number of key enterprises have emerged in the field of flight control, which has the lowest localization rate in the eVTOL industry chain, which also means that the domestic eVTOL industry chain is taking shape. On the eve of eVTOL commercialization, leading enterprises and key suppliers are laying out in advance.
In 2024, "low-altitude economy" was written into the State Council government work report, igniting investment enthusiasm. Dong Ming, who is in the aviation industry, smelled the first opportunity earlier.
Born in a family of aeronautical engineers, Dong Ming graduated from Wuhan University of Technology, majoring in industrial automation, and has worked for AVIC, General Electric, Rockwell Collins, Ontario Avionics, and other well-known Chinese and foreign aerospace companies. He has been deeply involved in model demonstration, research and development, manufacturing, flight test, airworthiness certification, and other development work on such major national models as the ARJ21-700 regional airliner, the C919 mainline airliner, and the CR929 wide-body passenger aircraft. He has been deeply involved in model demonstration, research and development, manufacturing, test flight, airworthiness certification and other development work.
In 2016, the U.S. proposed the Uber Elevate air cab program, which set off a wave of eVTOL around the world. At that time, Ming Dong, joined the NASA Transformative Vertical Flight Working Group and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to participate in the development of the U.S. Advanced Air Traffic (AAM) roadmap and related industry standards.
At the beginning of the eVTOL wave, Dong Ming was skeptical about it, believing that the technology and business logic had not yet closed the loop. Especially in China, if eVTOL is only used for entertainment or private use, the market will be very small.
With the development of eVTOL in the U.S., the market is gradually verifying that eVTOL will have significant opportunities in the commercial passenger transportation field. Dong Ming led his team to fast track and study eVTOL, and they judged that due to the development of new energy and information technology, the aviation industry would usher in an important change, which would bring about profound economic and scenario changes, and transform the "impossibility" of the traditional development of air traffic into "possibility". ". "This round of technological evolution is very rare in the aviation industry, and the convenience, economy and safety it brings will bring great efficiency improvement to people's life and production."
From the perspective of China's aviation industry, Dong Ming believes that this is a window of historical opportunity, and that China's eVTOL industry has the chance to realize "lane-changing overtaking" just like electric cars.
Ming Dong, founder and CEO of Volant Airlines. Photo by the interviewee
After 5 years of thinking, observing and researching, Dong Ming set up Volant Aviation in Minhang, Shanghai in June 2021, and the company rolled out the full-size demonstrator VE25-X1 in August 2022, and successfully made its maiden flight in January 2023, an astonishing speed of research and development.The VE25 adopts an advanced composite wing architecture, with a takeoff weight of 2.5 tons, a cruising speed of 235km/h, and a mileage of 200km - 400km. 400km, can carry 1 pilot and 5 passengers, is currently the world's largest known load capacity and cabin space of manned eVTOL.
In September 2023, the VE25-100 passenger eVTOL type qualification certificate application was accepted, marking its formal entry into the type qualification and validation process, which is also the first passenger-carrying eVTOL project accepted by the East China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). After completing the full conversion flight of the aircraft, on October 23, 2024, the first review meeting of VE25-100 project's type conformity certification was held successfully, and the airworthiness certification work entered into a substantive stage.
Benefiting from the policy promotion, 2024 has become the first year of rapid development of low-altitude economy, the Central Air Traffic Control Commission plans to carry out eVTOL pilot projects in six cities, namely Hefei, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing, and the eVTOL host factories have blossomed in many places. In Shanghai, there are the "Four Little Dragons of Shanghai eVTOL", such as Volant, Peak Aviation, Time's Technology, and Yufeng Future; in Guangdong, there is the world's first leading Yihang Intelligence, which has collected all the "three certificates", as well as Xiaopeng Huitian, a flying car company; and in Hefei, Zero Gravity Aircraft and Nanyi Aircraft have been introduced. Gravity Airplanes, Tour Next Aviation and other startups ......
According to public information, eVTOL products developed by several OEMs are expected to be licensed within the next three years.
Currently, Volant is increasing the scientific layout of R&D, production and application scenarios across the country, with a manufacturing base in Zigong, Sichuan Province and operation centers in Shenzhen and Beijing, etc. In November 2023, Zigong introduced Volant eVTOL intelligent manufacturing base project, which covers an overall area of 100 acres, with a total investment of 2 billion RMB, and will deliver 300 planes per year after completion and reaching production, with an annual output value of about 7.5 billion RMB.
Volant Chronology. Graph based on information provided by Volant
As a complex system engineering, the development and manufacturing of eVTOL involves many industry chain links, including batteries, motors, flight control systems, composite materials and so on. As the core of the industry chain, the host factory needs to work closely with upstream and downstream suppliers to build an industrial ecology. With the changes in the international situation, domestic eVTOL host factories have to improve the localization level of the industrial chain.
"We deeply support our suppliers and share our understanding of the aviation system without compensation, which has attracted many supply chain partners. We believe that in another two to three years, we have the potential to build the most efficient aviation industry chain in the world." Dong Ming said.
Suppliers in the eVTOL industry chain are required to provide high-performance and high-reliability parts and system solutions according to the needs of the OEMs. Among them, the emergence of key suppliers such as flight control system and avionics system marks the emergence of the domestic eVTOL industry chain.
"There are many giant companies in the traditional aviation industry chain abroad involved in eVTOL research and development, while the upstream of the domestic industry chain did not have such companies at that time, we noticed this blank market opportunity." Weng Haimin, founder and CEO of Boundary Intelligent Control, told Interface News.In November 2020, Boundary Intelligent Control was founded, becoming one of the earliest batch of startups in China to research and develop eVTOL flight control systems.
The flight control system, referred to as the flight control system, can control the rudder and power system of the aircraft according to the pilot's maneuvering commands, the aircraft's flight status and environmental parameters to achieve stable flight and precise maneuvering of the aircraft. The flight control system is one of the most core subsystems of eVTOL, which is technically difficult and highly complex.
"Flight control is one of the systems with the highest level of safety, if other systems fail in flight, flight control has to recognize and urgently dispose of the failure to guarantee that the aircraft remains in a safe state." Weng Haimin explains.
Index Capital Industrial Research Center pointed out in a study that the flight control avionics system has long been in a highly monopolized state in the international arena, with core technologies and talents in the hands of several avionics giants such as Honeywell, Collins, Garmin, Thales and BAE. Due to the high market barriers and relatively orderly competition, the opportunities for domestic manufacturers are greater than the challenges. Europe and the United States involved in flight control systems, many technologies are currently subject to strict export control restrictions, domestic players only Lion Tail Intelligence, Border Intelligent Control, Ang Inter Avionics, AVIC 618, and so on.
Based on the matching of supply and demand, Volant became the first customer of BoundarySmart. For startups, the development prospect is not clear, so the cooperation between the two industries started from hundreds of thousands of dollars and a small project lasting for several months, gradually strengthened the trust, and developed into a comprehensive and strategic level cooperation.
The head host factory represented by Volante is also the most important customer of Boundary Control at this stage. In Weng Haimin's opinion, Volante is a very representative host factory: the civil aviation gene is very strong, both the definition of the product and the R&D idea are very representative, the R&D idea has absorbed the essence of the civil aviation airliners, and it understands the cost, efficiency and performance of the aviation products very well, and it is good at simplifying the complexity into simplicity, and the style of doing things is precise and efficient.
Currently, BoundarySmart has established cooperation with many types of OEMs, including traditional aviation and automotive companies as well as emerging eVTOL companies. The success of the first batch of customers will open up a good situation for Boundary Intelligent Control's next scale commercialization. "The earliest customers who opened airworthiness certification have helped us build our brand." Weng Haimin said.
Photo credit: Volant
In the domestic eVTOL industry chain, there are also a number of new energy vehicle background suppliers. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianjin Santroll Electric Technology Co., Ltd."), a motor supplier founded in 2001, has successfully upgraded from a leading electric bicycle supplier to a leading electric vehicle supplier, and has been exploring the electric aviation market in the past two years.
"We belong to the category of technology entrepreneurs, and whenever an industry's technology encounters a bottleneck and begins to implode, we plan to research the next generation of technology that will disrupt the industry." Zhang Ting, sales director of Tianjin Santroll's aviation segment, told Interface News. Around 2020-2021, there will be a surge of eVTOL startups, and Tianjin Santroll, which had just divested its passenger car power business for US$220 million at the time, had enough food and grass, and after researching aviation companies, it planned a new industrial vision in 2022, hoping to upgrade its products along the technology path of "consumer-grade-vehicle-grade-airline-grade". It hopes to upgrade its products along the technology path of "consumer-grade-vehicle-grade-airline-grade".
The motor is called the "power heart" of eVTOL, and the motor electric control system accounts for a high proportion in the cost of eVTOL. In this field, foreign aerospace enterprises have a first-mover advantage, while domestic enterprises are fewer. With the technical strength of electric passenger car R&D team and military heavy-duty UAV R&D team, Tianjin Santroll cuts into the new track of eVTOL electric drive.
In the first stage of product development, Tianjin Santroll cooperated with several automobile companies to jointly develop the power system of the airplane. Through the initial cooperation, Tianjin Santroll understood the aircraft on the power of the form of demand. Zhang Ting said that in the second stage, Tianjin Santroll planned to participate in the manufacture of an airworthiness certification and absolute safety of the aircraft, the need for a deep understanding of the aviation product partners, and then locked Volant. At that time, Volante also urgently needed to improve the localization rate of the industrial chain. 2024, the two sides reached a cooperation to jointly develop and polish the VE25 passenger eVTOL.
"We got to know Volant's team very early, they have a deep aviation background and we have strong product development capabilities, which is the most important aspect for both of us. Secondly, their trust and support to their partners is very important. The aviation field needs deep cooperation to guarantee the safety of the products, and the coupling between the two sides is very deep. Therefore we went through many exchanges and mutual visits, and finally both sides formed a consensus." Zhang Ting believes that compared with other participants, Tianjin Santroll is characterized by more focus in the vertical segment of eVTOL and more emphasis on technological innovation.
Currently, the VE25 passenger eVTOL is driven by distributed power, and one vehicle requires more than 10 sets of power systems. Zhang Ting believes that the airworthiness certification stage of research and development is the key to really cut into the aviation track. "In addition to product design, we should really understand airworthiness, understand the bureau's requirements, and show the safety of the product from all dimensions. This time may need to last one or two years. I hope that we, together with Volant, can lead the whole industry and eventually get out of the eVTOL track in China."
Photo credit: Volant
Dong Ming told Interface News that this year, he will continue to promote the development and airworthiness certification of the VE25-100 model eVTOL, and strive to realize the first development batch of aircraft AC101 and AC102 off the production line and the first flight. Airworthiness certification is the proof of the success of eVTOL technology, and to realize the success of commercialization, not only need orders, but also need to use real scenarios to verify the economy of eVTOL. He said Volant plans to start gradually confirming the commercial value of eVTOL next year.
The acceleration of the commercialization process of the host factory will drive the growth of the demand of the whole industrial chain. At the same time, suppliers will need to continuously reduce costs to meet the demand for large-scale commercialized production of eVTOL.
Weng Haimin said that BIC is studying the application of new technologies in flight control systems in the future, hoping to continue to reduce costs and expand the market. In addition, COMAC is driving the development of the large airplane industry chain, and BIC will also expand into different civil aviation business areas outside of eVTOL.
He judged that in the future, in the low-altitude field, it will usher in higher density flights and the application of intelligent auxiliary equipment. Therefore, Boundary Intelligent Control is also focusing on civil aviation intelligent piloting equipment, and researching and laying out technologies such as perception, obstacle avoidance and autonomous flight in advance.
Zhang Ting said Tianjin Santroll has a strong industrialization capacity, whether it is production line expansion or platform construction, personnel expansion, etc., can support the production capacity climbing stage on the eve of commercialization of OEMs. "With the planning of Volante's production and sales volume as well as the national layout of the low-altitude industry, we will plan our work in a timely manner according to the industrial development process."
He revealed that once the eVTOL industry rises, for the long term, Tianjin Santroll will consider choosing a parallel strategy with OEMs, having previously examined two bases in Tianjin and Jiaxing. "From the perspective of supply chain advantages and services to OEMs and OEMs, the Yangtze River Delta region has very obvious advantages."
In the domestic low altitude economy in full swing when the development of two German eVTOL unicorns collapse tore open the industry's cruel veil.
Lilium was founded in 2015, and in 2021 became the world's third eVTOL enterprise listed in the U.S., with a market capitalization of more than $7 billion at one time. in October 2024, it announced that it had filed for bankruptcy. 2011 founded Volocopter, on the other hand, was one of the world's earliest eVTOL enterprises, and it was originally planned to be certified as airworthy this year, but filed for bankruptcy due to a break in funding at the end of last year. On March 11, 2025, Wanfeng Aowei announced the acquisition of Volocopter.
This is also a wake-up call for China's eVTOL enterprises: at a time when capital is booming, high R&D costs, complex airworthiness certification process, not yet mature business model, and intensified competition in the market are still the "mountains" in front of eVTOL enterprises.
Over the past year, BoundarySmart has been able to receive more than a dozen cooperation inquiries from new eVTOL teams almost every month. Haimin Weng emphasized that the R&D cycle for high safety level manned vehicles is long and will not be significantly shortened with the investment of resources. "This industry is highly regarded and has many resources invested, R&D may speed up, but there is still the law of product maturity development, we need to have patience, and practitioners should remain objective and calm, and complete their work with an attitude more in line with industry science and industry laws."
Zhang Ting said, over the past two years to undertake a number of host factory and industry research, under the market boom, Tianjin Santroll still hope to focus on self-development, this year will continue to increase investment, strengthen personnel training and infrastructure, aviation laboratory construction, solid foundation. At the same time, in the face of the new needs of the low-altitude economy, will research and development of some suitable new products.
On the eve of commercialization, Volant has accelerated R&D and actively financed to spend money on the knife edge on the one hand, and signed up for more orders on the other hand to build up a sustained blood-creation capacity.
In 2024, Volant Airlines completed a total of 6 rounds of financing, with a cumulative amount of nearly 1 billion RMB. Up to now, the company has signed strategic cooperation and intentional orders of more than 860 aircraft, intentional orders amounting to more than 22 billion yuan.
Peng Yan, head of high-end equipment section of Minhang District Economic Commission, disclosed that Minhang District, based on the "Shanghai Action Program for High-Quality Development of Low Altitude Economy Industry (2024-2027)", is studying and preparing a three-year action plan and special policies for civil aviation industry of Minhang District, including low altitude economy, and formulated the development objectives and spatial layout in line with the actual situation of Minhang, which will be given to the enterprises of the aviation industry represented by Volant, in the aspects of technology, industry, scenario and talents. It will give full support to the aviation industry enterprises represented by Volant in terms of technology, industry, scenario and talents.
