During the National Two Sessions in 2026, Hu Weiyi, a representative of the National People's Congress and secretary of the Party branch of Lailong Village, Pailou Town, Dongbao District, Jingmen City, Hubei Province, suggested promoting the AS700 manned airship industry to be piloted in the country and accelerating the expansion of application scenarios.
AS700 manned airship. Picture/video screenshots
In recent years, Jingmen City, Hubei Province has made every effort to promote the research and development and industrialization of the AS700, China's first large-scale civilian manned airship with completely independent intellectual property rights. At present, the project has successfully passed the acceptance of relevant scientific research projects of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and its technical maturity and reliability have been verified at the national level.
"AS700 is a major breakthrough made by my country's aviation industry in the field of aerostats. Its successful development marks that my country has reached the world's advanced level in this field." Hu Weiyi said that AS700 has significant advantages such as high safety, economical operation, flexible take-off and landing, and green environmental protection. It has broad application prospects in diversified scenarios such as low-altitude tourism, scenic spot sightseeing, emergency rescue, and aerial inspection.
He said that since the launch of AS700, its innovative design concept and wide application potential have continued to attract public attention, forming a strong brand effect and market expectations, laying a good cognitive foundation for industrialization. At the same time, due to its groundbreaking significance, the product has been intensively reported by CCTV, People's Daily and many mainstream media, showing its great potential and hot prospects as a new carrier of low-altitude economy.
However, although AS700 has received national project support and enjoys high market popularity, and orders have covered many pioneering provinces in China, its industrialization success ultimately depends on sustainable commercial applications. The most prominent contradiction currently lies in the serious mismatch between the product’s popularity and technological maturity and the actual application and promotion speed in the province.
In order to solve the problem of application scenario implementation, firmly root the national technical achievements and market popularity of AS700 in Hubei, and transform it into the first-mover advantage and practical productivity of Hubei Province's low-altitude economic development, Hu Weiyi put forward the following three suggestions.
First, it is recommended that the AS700 be included in the national low-altitude economic development and key cultural tourism project planning, and that priority be given to laying out commercial operation demonstration routes in the "Two Rivers and Two Mountains" (Yangtze River, Hanjiang, Wudang Mountains, Shennongjia) golden tourist belts and key ecological functional areas, so as to create a nationally renowned "Hubei model" for low-altitude applications.
Second, it is recommended to encourage state-owned enterprises and platform companies to take the lead in demonstrating and actively introduce and operate AS700 through procurement, leasing or cooperative operations, quickly activate the initial market, verify the business model, and play a leading role.
Third, increase publicity, promotion and market cultivation, use national platform resources to focus on promoting demonstration projects, hold high-profile industry forums or application observation activities, attract the attention of industries across the country, effectively transform "media enthusiasm" into "investment enthusiasm" and "industry enthusiasm", and promote Hubei Province to become the leader and main beneficiary of the new low-altitude economic track.
Jiupai News special correspondent Zeng Yiting and Wang Jiaqing reported from Beijing
Editor Xiao Jiewu Feifei
