On Wednesday, Chinese online life service provider Meituan declared that it has initiated its first overseas drone delivery service. This is a significant step in applying advanced and environmentally friendly Chinese digital technologies to the global low-altitude economy.
Meituan stated that its drone delivery service subsidiary, Keeta Drone, has acquired a commercial license for Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone deliveries from Dubai’s civil aviation authority and has commenced providing rapid and efficient drone delivery of food, medicine, and other essential commodities in designated pilot areas. In addition to introducing its self-developed aircraft, automated airport, and intelligent scheduling system to Dubai, the company has made comprehensive adjustments and modifications to cope with the challenges presented by the local environment such as high temperatures, as mentioned by Mao Yinian, vice president of Meituan and president of Keeta Drone.
The low-altitude economy, which encompasses drone deliveries and flying cars, has experienced vigorous growth in China in recent years. Many local governments have introduced supportive policies to explore this new frontier of consumption upgrading.
Meituan initiated the exploration of using drones for seamless air-ground local deliveries in 2017 and launched its first commercial delivery service in the southern Chinese technology hub of Shenzhen in 2021. As of December 2024, Keeta Drone operates 53 routes in major Chinese cities and has accomplished over 400,000 deliveries. The service offers customers a diverse range of products and covers various locations, including offices, residential areas, libraries, and tourist attractions like the Great Wall.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the size of China’s low-altitude economy was estimated to be more than 500 billion yuan (about 69.53 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2023, and its scale is projected to reach 2 trillion yuan by 2030.
“We aim to discover more opportunities in the low-altitude economy by exporting technologies to overseas markets, thereby achieving mutually beneficial results between China’s technologies and more countries and regions,” Mao said.
