China to set up new government department to drive “low

China will establish a new department tasked with overseeing the development of the country’s emerging low-altitude aviation sector and initiate pilot programs for passenger transport using electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) in six domestic cities, including Shenzhen, Caixin reported. The so-called low-altitude economy department will be created under the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, to act as a liaison coordinating with other government bodies, including the Chinese Air Force, according to Chen Zhijie, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The news comes three years after Beijing appointed Deputy Prime Minister Han Zheng to lead a new airspace management commission to oversee aircraft operations in the country, in addition to a similar division that has existed under the Central Military Commission since 1986. [Caixin, in Chinese]