(Yicai) May 6 -- Low-altitude sightseeing tours, which refer to flights under 1,000 meters, were a big hit across many Chinese cities and tourist spots during the five-day Labor Day break, which ended yesterday, despite their steep price tags.

Huangguoshu Waterfall, a popular scenic area in southwestern Guizhou province, for instance, held its first low-altitude sightseeing tour during the holiday using an unmanned electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft made by Ehang Holdings. The Nasdaq-listed firm secured the world’s first commercial operation license for roadable aircraft at the end of March.

Most low-altitude flying activities in cities, however, still use piloted helicopters. Newsky Helicopter has recently started to offer helicopter flights over Shanghai’s Lujiazui financial district, giving passengers close-up views of the iconic skyscrapers. Despite the price tag of over CNY2,000 (USD275) for a 10-minute nighttime flight, the rides proved so popular that the service logged eight flights on its second day of operations.

A number of other provincial-level regions, including Hainan, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Anhui and Sichuan provinces as well as the municipality of Chongqing, also rolled out low-altitude tours during the holiday, according to incomplete data. Natural landmarks, along with cityscapes, proved to be popular with tourists.

However, despite booming demand, the low-altitude economy still faces challenges in meeting safety regulations. Although safety requirements for general aviation are less stringent than for civil aviation, operators must prioritize daily training and safety protocols, industry insiders told Yicai.

Regulators are also short of staff. There is an urgent need for airworthiness certification teams to be expanded to address the surging demand for approvals of new aircraft, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles, said Jiang Chunshui, Party secretary of the East China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

“As of the end of last year, China had over 700 drone manufacturers and more than 800 medium-to-large UAVs awaiting certification,” Jiang said. “To put that in perspective, in the last 40 years, only 81 manned aircraft models were certified.”

Editor: Kim Taylor