Nov. 27 (NBD) -- Airbus Group (Airbus, OTCMKTS: EADSY) is ambitiously eyeing China's drone logistics domain.

On Monday, the European plane-maker unveiled a new cargo drone codenamed Vesper which Airbus co-developed with Chinese agricultural technology startup XAG, with a flight demonstration in southeast China's Guangzhou. 

Photo/provided to NBD

The delivery trial of the unmanned aerial delivery vehicle could be seen as a sign of the two companies' cooperation in establishing urban aerial logistics infrastructure to build a new bridge among merchants, logistics enterprises and consumers.

National Business Daily (NBD) noticed that Airbus has made inroads in China for nearly three decades with its business chiefly covering aerospace system, geographic information, etc., but has never made deployment in the drone delivery sector.

It's noticed that the broad space in China's delivery market stands as one of the reasons behind Airbus' new attempt. 

According to a research report compiled by Airbus, China's on-demand delivery market boasts promising prospects with the annual growth rate in the past five years averaging at 48 percent. In the following five years, China's food delivery market is expected to develop at a growth rate of 10.9 percent and to reach about 40 billion U.S. dollars, twice the size of the corresponding U.S. market.

In fact, Airbus is not the only one that yearns for a slice of the market. Currently the logistics drone ground in China is full of players. In 2015, Alibaba's shopping platform Taobao partnered with Chinese logistics giant YTO Express on unmanned delivery with drones. Later on, logistics services providers like SF Express, China Post, e-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Suning.com, as well as on-demand life services apps including Alibaba-backed Ele.me, all started to test the waters in the domain.

"The logistics drone industry in China is still in its infancy," noted civil aviation expert Qi Qi to NBD, "The application of drones, especially large-tonnage drones, in logistics services is of great significance to sparsely-populated areas with inconvenient transport."

Luo Liangsheng, deputy chairman of the drone association of Guangdong Province, told NBD that at present, the pilot operation of logistics drones in China is to address specific needs, such as connecting less-populated areas with the outside. The large-scale application of cargo drones is still undergoing tests, Luo added.

In the eyes of Qi, for now, the premise of the commercialization of logistics drones is to ensure flight safety, convenient use of airspace as well as reasonable amortization of operating costs.

 

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn

Editor: Gao Han