CITIC Construction Investment 2026 Low Altitude Economic Outlook: eVTOL Applications Accelerate Implementation, Infrastructure and Market Prospects Broad

The Zhitong Finance App learned that CITIC Construction Investment released a research report saying that China's low-altitude economy market has continued to grow in recent years, and the policy is proposed to form a trillion dollar market size by 2030. With 2027 as the starting point, China will work to improve general aviation equipment supply capacity and industrial innovation. The development of the low-altitude economy is expected to drive upstream and downstream infrastructure to usher in a development cycle, such as providing an air traffic control environment (software and hardware), infrastructure, and computing power for the operation of satellites, aircraft, and low-altitude aircraft. In 2025, many eVTOL companies received intended orders from home and abroad, reflecting the broad market space of the low-altitude economy.

CITIC Construction Investment's main views are as follows:

2024 is the first year of low-altitude economic development. The future of China's low-altitude economic market is a trillion yuan blue ocean. In 2023, China's low-altitude economy market will exceed 500 billion yuan. With the continuous expansion of downstream application fields, it is expected to continue to grow in the future. According to civil aviation and logistics data, equipment value accounts for 5-15% of operating revenue, and infrastructure accounts for 20% of operating revenue. According to the “Implementation Plan for Innovative Application of General Aviation Equipment (2024-2030)”, it is proposed to form a trillion dollar market by 2030. With 2027 as the starting point, China will work to improve general aviation equipment supply capacity and industrial innovation. With 20 key tasks such as enhancing technological innovation, improving product lineage, and accelerating demonstration applications, the core is to promote the exploration and practice of new industrialization in the aviation manufacturing industry.

The main components of the low-altitude economy mainly include three networks. One is an air network: mostly satellites, and airships may also be a component of it after near-space development; the second is a low-altitude network: aircraft (drones, eVTOL, navigable aircraft, etc.), which have significant advantages in safety, intelligence, economy, and environmental protection when developing a low-altitude economy; third, terrestrial networks: providing air control for the operation of low-altitude aircraft Environment (hardware and software), infrastructure, computing power, etc.

Low-altitude intelligent integrated infrastructure is divided into “four networks”, including a “facility network”, “air network”, “route network”, and “service network”. A facility network refers to various physical infrastructure supporting low-altitude flight operations, such as take-off and landing stations, energy stations, etc.; an air network refers to information infrastructure such as communication, navigation, and sensing, which is the key to digitizing low altitude airspace into computable airspace; a service network refers to applications built by combining digital management and service capabilities to empower various low-altitude economic management and business entities (such as governments, air traffic controllers, managers, operators, business parties, etc.).

In 2025, many eVTOL companies received intended orders from home and abroad, reflecting the broad market space of the low-altitude economy.

Risk warning:

Defense budget growth falls short of expectations; market demand fluctuates; progress in related reforms falls short of expectations; pressure on raw material costs; increased risk of competition; risk of falling product prices.