Chinese company EHang has completed the test flight of its EHang 21 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for aerial sightseeing at the world-famous tourism hotspot of Bali, Indonesia. The EHang 216 demonstrated a five-minute autonomous flight at Bali’s scenic Villa Blackstone Beach over both land and sea area.
Prior to the flight demo, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the Republic of Indonesia issued the Special Certificate of Airworthiness for the EHang 216 AAV, enabling it to be Indonesia’s first passenger-grade AAV approved for a public unmanned flight demo.
EHang carried out the demonstration in collaboration with Prestige Aviation, a local partner in Indonesia and a subsidiary of Prestige Corp.
“The successful flight demo fully showcased EHang 216’s potential for efficient island hopping and air transportation,” said Hu Huazhi, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of EHang. “We are pleased to join hands with local Indonesian partners to bring our leading AAVs and UAM solutions to Indonesia, one of the most promising UAM markets in Southeast Asia. Our global network of renowned and reliable partners continues to expand, and we believe this is a significant step for our sustainable, consistent success. We look forward to long-term business development prospects in Indonesia.”
The company says it is on its way to obtaining a type certificate for EHang 216 air taxi with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (“CAAC”) in the next few months, after which commercial operations can begin – potentially years earlier American and European competitors. It has also achieved more than 20,000 autonomous trial flights of the EHang 216 AAVs across 11 countries by the end of November 2021.
EHang continued to implement the 100 Air Mobility Routes Initiative in the third quarter of 2021. Furthermore, EHang has been developing an air mobility operation system and mechanism covering route planning, flight operations, safety management, regulatory compliance, digital operational platform, sales, and marketing, etc.
