China's first "4S store" for drones has been put into trial operation at a national base for civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) testing in southwest China, a move to further boost the country's burgeoning low-altitude economy.

The "4S store," officially known as the Low-Altitude Economy Intelligent Equipment Exhibition and Sales Center, started trial operation on Thursday, the Chengdu Daily reported on Friday.

The center is run by the testing base "Sky Eye," which is located in Pengzhou, some 70 km from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. Similar to traditional automobile 4S stores, it provides services on drone sales, maintenance, parts and information, according to the report.

It also adds supplementary services such as drone insurance, financial services, public education and forum activities. A total of 32 drone-related companies have signed agreements to set up operations within the center.

"Here, you can purchase a wide variety of drones with comprehensive functions at competitive prices, while also experiencing a one-stop 'buy and try' service," said Zhou Xiaoming, head of "Sky Eye."

Finding test-flight sites and obtaining airspace approvals have long posed challenges for the drone industry in China.

Located in the Longmen Mountain range, "Sky Eye" boasts an airspace with an elevation below 1,200 meters and a radius of 5 km, in which numerous types of drones conduct various test missions on a daily basis.

On Dec. 8, 2017, "Sky Eye" received approval for airspace use, marking the official establishment of the first civil UAV flight base in southwest China.

In August 2022, "Sky Eye" was approved as a national civil UAV testing base, allowing trial flights to be reported just one hour in advance. With this pioneering move, it saw a significant transition for airspace management from an "approval system" to a "notification system" in China, effectively addressing the surging demand for airspace use, reducing user costs, and enhancing operational efficiency, according to the newspaper report.

Currently, "Sky Eye" boasts 10 test-flight locations and 19 low-altitude economic application scenarios, making it the largest of 20 national testing bases in terms of quantity in China.

It has attracted 132 entities engaged in drone research and development, production, mission payloads and system management, injecting robust momentum into the development of Sichuan's low-altitude economy.

China's drone industry has experienced rapid development, with nearly 608,000 UAVs newly registered in the first half (H1) of 2024, an increase of 48 percent from the figure registered at the end of 2023, according to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in July.

The cumulative flight time of UAVs reached nearly 9.82 million hours in H1, an increase of 134,000 hours over the same period last year.

The booming low-altitude economy, propelled by technological innovation, is experiencing rapid growth in China. A report by a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China showed that the sector's value reached 505.95 billion yuan (about $70.37 billion) in 2023, and is projected to surpass 1 trillion yuan by 2026.

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