924 Million Yuan! Pingyin County, Shandong Grants a 30-Year Franchise for Low-Altitude Economy

Recently, the topic of public bidding for the concession of low-altitude economy franchise rights in Pingyin County, Jinan City, Shandong Province, has attracted public attention.
The bidding information shows that the bidder for the project is the Pingyin County Development and Reform Bureau, and the project involves the concession of a 30-year franchise for the low-altitude economy in Pingyin County. The franchisee will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the low-altitude economy during the franchise period, providing services such as flight license training. The contract performance period is 30 years, with an estimated investment of 924 million yuan.
According to a report by financial media outlet Taishan Finance, previously, low-altitude economies were mostly focused on large cities or specific regions with developed aviation industries, with less involvement at the county level. This public bidding may be the first case of a county-level concession of low-altitude economy franchise rights through bidding in the country.
A reporter from The Paper found that the Jinan Public Resources Trading Center had issued the “Announcement of the Winning Bid for the Concession of Low-Altitude Economy Franchise Rights in Pingyin County” on November 26. The date of the winning bid is November 26, 2024, with Shandong Jinyu General Aviation Co., Ltd. as the winning bidder and a winning bid amount of 924,011,000.00 yuan, or 924 million and 11,000 yuan.
On November 26, the Jinan Public Resources Trading Center website released the “Announcement of the Winning Bid for the Concession of Low-Altitude Economy Franchise Rights in Pingyin County”.

The aforementioned Taishan Finance report introduces that as the first region in the country to grant a concession for “low-altitude economy” franchise rights, Pingyin County has a good industrial development foundation in the field of low-altitude economy. Currently, Pingyin County has two airports: Pingyin Yushan Airport and Pingyin Xiaozhi General Airport. Among them, Pingyin Xiaozhi General Airport has attracted companies such as Shandong Qiquan General Aviation Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Zhonghang Zhifei Technology Co., Ltd., and Liaoning Liaohe Navigation Company. These companies have respectively carried out aerial photography, drone assembly and test flights, and agricultural and forestry aerial pest control.
In early November this year, Shandong media outlet Dzwww published an article titled “Competing for the ‘Sky City’, Jinan Has Already Gained the Upper Hand”, introducing that “low-altitude economy” is a hot topic that has received much attention recently. The term “low-altitude” refers to the low-altitude airspace range below 1000 meters in vertical height, which can be extended to no more than 3000 meters according to actual needs. “Low-altitude economy” is a comprehensive economic form that uses civilian manned and unmanned aircraft as carriers, with multi-scenario low-altitude flight activities such as passenger and cargo transport as the driving force, to promote the development of low-altitude infrastructure, low-altitude aircraft manufacturing, low-altitude operation services, and low-altitude flight support.
According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the market size of the low-altitude economy will reach 1.5 trillion yuan by 2025 and is expected to reach 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035. Industry estimates show that the scale of China’s low-altitude economy exceeded 500 billion yuan in 2023.
The Dzwww article introduces that some say the low-altitude economy is about generating GDP from the sky. As a representative of new productive forces, the low-altitude economy has created a trillion-scale “new blue ocean”.
The report mentions that on May 15, the Shandong Provincial Department of Transportation issued the “Three-Year Action Plan for High-Quality Development of Shandong’s Low-Altitude Economy (2024-2026)”, which states that by 2026, Shandong’s low-altitude economy service and support level will lead the country, with world-class innovation capabilities, diverse application scenarios, and a significant leap in industrial level. Shandong will become an important source of innovation and development for the country’s low-altitude economy, and the low-altitude economy industry will become an important growth pole for the high-quality economic development of the province.
The plan proposes to support Jinan and Qingdao in applying to be among the first national pilot cities for air traffic, with a focus on eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) for application demonstrations. It also supports the accelerated market application of smart air mobility (SAM) equipment to meet the needs of future urban air traffic. At the same time, it aims to form a low-altitude economy industrial development pattern led by the two cores of Jinan and Qingdao, with support from Yantai, Dongying, Rizhao, and Binzhou.
On October 1, the Jinan Low-Altitude Economy Development Group, wholly funded by the Jinan Energy Group, was established and unveiled. This reveals a clear signal: Jinan is accelerating its layout in the low-altitude economy industry. In the competition for the “Sky City” and the new track of low-altitude economy, Jinan has the foundation, advantages, and even more promising prospects.