Visitors attend a drone expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, May 23, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

In back-to-back milestones for unmanned cargo transport, two heavy-lift drone models from a Chinese aircraft maker made their maiden flights within a period of just 24 hours.

On Thursday morning, the Jiutian large unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) took its inaugural flight in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The fixed-wing plane was designed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), with a wingspan of 25 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 16 tonnes and a payload capacity of 6,000 kilograms. It can operate for up to 12 hours and has a ferry range of 7,000 kilometers.

Just a day earlier, AVIC's electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft AR-E800 was sent soaring on its first flight in east China's Jiangxi Province.

The electric drone, featuring six coaxial rotors, lifted off from an airfield with a deep, powerful hum. In approximately four minutes, it ran through a full suite of maneuvers, including takeoff, hovering, turns, and forward and backward flight. Designed for whisper-quiet, zero-emissions operations, it can carry a 300-kilogram payload.

The dual test flights came amid efforts to unlock market potential in urban logistics and emergency response as Chinese aviation manufacturers have bet on heavy-lift cargo drones over the past two years.

The global cargo-drone market is projected to approach 5 billion U.S. dollars by 2031, expanding at a 35.8 percent compound annual growth rate, Chinese consultancy firm QYResearch estimates.

Players pile in 

In March, the Yitong UAV's TP1000 -- an airworthiness-certified, tonne-class freighter -- logged a 26-minute first flight. With a 1,000-kilogram payload, 30 orders for the model have already been secured from clients such as delivery giant ZTO Express.

Under Chinese standards, cargo drones with a maximum takeoff weight of at least 150 kilograms qualify as large cargo drones.

The Boying T1400 unmanned helicopter, developed by Shenzhen-based United Aircraft, flew into the sky in late October in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Capable of carrying a 650-kilogram maximum payload for over eight hours, it can operate in extreme temperatures ranging from minus 40 to 55 degrees Celsius and climb to an altitude of 6,500 meters.

This month, a general-purpose transport and delivery drone rolled off the production line in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang. With a 2-tonne cargo capacity, it requires just 800 meters of rough runway.

Also in the pipeline are Air White Whale's 5-tonne-payload W5000 and the 10-tonne CM100 from a Shenyang-based aircraft maker. Delivery service providers including China Post Group and JD Logistics have already signed letters of intent to purchase the latter model.

Market potential 

In the remote mountains and rainforests of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Chinese grid workers are rewriting the rules of heavy logistics.

A fleet of heavy-lift drones delivered 180 tonnes of materials for three transmission towers in just three days -- a task that would once have taken a month using horses and cableways.

At the solar power-grid connection project, 16 drones operated by China Southern Power Grid moved 2,000 tonnes of materials, including supplies for 52 towers along a 22-kilometer stretch, up treacherous terrain.

This approach minimized environmental impact in a fragile karst region, cutting road-building costs by 80 percent and labor by 60 percent.

At another project on the China-Laos power line, a fleet of 30-plus drones and helicopters airlifted 5,000 tonnes of tower materials, sparing nearly 7 hectares of rainforest and more than 30,000 trees in a priority corridor for Asian elephants.

Drones have already played a role in transporting urgent medical supplies in some Chinese cities. Now, their utility is scaling up to heavier payloads, enabling applications in bulk agricultural logistics and remote infrastructure projects.

Similar adoptions are being made in offshore operations. In August, a 2-tonne eVTOL completed a cargo flight to an offshore oil platform, transporting fresh fruits and medical supplies from the coastal city of Shenzhen to a platform 150 kilometers offshore in just 58 minutes.

China's heavy-lift UAVs still under development are engineered to support multiple civil operations.

Jiutian's modular payload system enables roles such as the precise delivery of heavy cargo in remote regions, emergency communication, disaster relief, geographic survey and resource mapping, according to AVIC.