AS700 airship set to enter service this year

The AS700, the largest airship ever developed in China, is set to begin commercial operations this year, according to a project leader at Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's leading aircraft manufacturer.

Zhang Lixian, Party chief of the Special Aircraft Research Institute, an AVIC subsidiary based in Jingmen, Hubei province, said Thursday that the institute has received confirmed orders for 23 AS700 airships and tentative orders for 164 more.

The first customer for the AS700 will be Guangxi Guilin Fangzhou General Aviation, a private company in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

"We have started small-scale production of the AS700. The first unit is scheduled for delivery to the Guangxi company around October and will be used for aerial sightseeing," Zhang said during an event in Taijiang county, Guizhou province.

An AS700 made a flight to Taijiang on Monday to appear during the "Village Basketball Association", a basketball event held in Taipan village, which concluded on Thursday.

Guangxi Guilin Fangzhou General Aviation has placed orders for six AS700s, while China Comfort Travel Group has ordered 16, and Jingmen Urban Investment and Construction Co has purchased one, Zhang said.

Training programs for airship pilots will begin soon, he added. "There are very few pilots in China who have flown airships because there has been almost no manned airship operation in this country."

Zhang's institute is the only State-owned research body in China that designs and manufactures airships. Since the mid-1980s, it has developed various manned and unmanned models. One of its manned airships, the FK-4, participated in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games.

However, commercial operations of manned airships did not take off in China due to factors such as stringent control of low-altitude airspace and limited market demand.

That situation began to change in recent years as the central government sought to unlock the market potential of low-altitude airspace.

Development of the AS700 began in August 2018 to meet demand for aerial sightseeing.

Powered by piston engines, the AS700 has a maximum takeoff weight of 4.15 metric tons, a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour and a flight ceiling of 3.1 km. It can carry one pilot and nine passengers, fly up to 700 km and remain airborne for as long as 10 hours.

Following extensive test flights, the AS700 received its type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in December 2023, becoming the first manned airship in China to be domestically certified.

In addition to tourism, the AS700 is suited for a range of civilian applications, including mineral prospecting, marine surveillance, police patrols, cargo transport and emergency rescue, according to its designers.