The AS700, a manned airship developed independently by China, successfully completed its first delivery flight on March 30.
AS700 Airship took off from Jingmen City, Hubei Province, at 6:04 AM on March 30 (Hanoi time) and landed smoothly in Jingzhou, also in Hubei Province, after a flight lasting 106 minutes. It remained briefly before returning to Jingmen, completing its first delivery flight.
AS700 manned airship. (Photo: AVIC)
The AS700 was developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country’s leading aircraft manufacturer. Featuring a single-cabin design with a single-point landing system, the AS700 is expected to fulfill demand for aerial tourism, emergency rescue, and urban services. The new airship has a maximum takeoff weight of 4,150 kg, a maximum range of 700 km, and a maximum flight duration of 10 hours. It can carry up to 10 people, including one pilot, at a maximum speed of 100 km/h.
The flight on March 30 helped comprehensively verify the performance of the AS700. “The flight completed all assigned tasks, fully verifying the air-ground communication capability and the ability to take off and land at various locations. The flight also helped test the support capabilities of the technical team,” said Zhou Lei, the chief designer of the AS700 manned airship project.
With vector thrust control technology, the airship can take off and land vertically in confined spaces, significantly reducing operational costs as land is currently very expensive, according to Lin Hong, the pilot for the March 30 flight.
The AS700 received certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in December 2023, becoming the country’s first independently developed and certified manned airship. According to Du Wei, the project manager of the AS700 manned airship, they have received around 20 orders, with the first delivery expected by the end of this year. Du mentioned that the project team aims to primarily use the airship for low-altitude sightseeing and hopes to expand its applications to areas such as emergency rescue and urban public services.
