EHang’s regulatory breakthrough marks the beginning of commercial pilotless air taxi services and offers a roadmap for urban air mobility adoption in the GCC and beyond.
| NewsAvia Middle East Edition
In a defining moment for global aviation, China-based EHang has become the first company in the world to receive Air Operator Certificates (AOCs) for autonomous passenger-carrying electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The certification, granted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), enables commercial flights using the EH216-S model without onboard pilots.
This regulatory green light officially launches the era of human-carrying pilotless aviation, beginning with urban sightseeing and low-altitude tourism services in Guangzhou and Hefei. Passengers can now purchase flight tickets for autonomous aerial tours, placing China ahead in the race to commercialize advanced air mobility (AAM) technologies.
A Full Regulatory Suite: A Global First
The milestone makes EHang the only eVTOL company globally to achieve a complete set of certifications—Type Certificate, Production Certificate, Certificate of Airworthiness, and now Air Operator Certificate—for an unmanned passenger aircraft. The operators certified under this landmark decision are EHang General Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary, and Heyi Aviation, a joint venture in Hefei.
“These approvals are not just technical milestones—they represent a new reality in urban air mobility, where autonomous aircraft will increasingly become part of daily life,” EHang stated.
This comes at a time when governments across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are actively exploring smart mobility solutions and investing in drone infrastructure, air corridors, and vertiports. The EHang case provides a compelling model for how aviation authorities and private-sector innovators in the Middle East can cooperate to develop safe, regulated frameworks for future aerial transport.
From Vision to Commercial Service
With the AOCs now in place, commercial pilotless operations have moved from test flights to real passenger services. The EH216-S, which seats two passengers, is designed for short-range urban routes and is already in use for urban air tours in select Chinese cities.
Future plans include urban commuting, cargo delivery, and emergency response operations—use cases that align with many of the smart city visions in Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.
EHang has indicated that its next steps involve expanding low-altitude air mobility centers across more Chinese regions and supporting local operators in acquiring similar certifications. This decentralized rollout strategy could serve as a template for integrating eVTOL services into existing airspace and transport ecosystems elsewhere in the world.
Source: EHang press release, March 30, 2025. For more information, visit www.ehang.com.
