Guangzhou, China, November 1st, 2023 - EHang Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: EH) (“EHang” or the “Company”), the world’s leading Urban Air Mobility (“UAM”) technology platform company, announced the inauguration of its first European UAM Center in Spain. Located inside the Lleida–Alguaire International Airport (“LEDA”), the center represents the first-of-its-kind in Europe for unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, setting a benchmark globally for the effective integration of eVTOL aircraft operation with airport infrastructure, air traffic management systems, operational procedures, and other information technologies.
EH216-S flying at LEDA with the airport, vertiport and planes behind Download the photo
The inception of this UAM center, a globally pioneering initiative, arises from the collaboration agreement signed between EHang and Aeroports de Catalunya in the field of UAM and will enable European aviation and airport sectors to be positioned at the forefront of global Advanced Air Mobility.
On October 13th, 2023, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued the Type Certificate (TC) for EHang’s EH216-S passenger-carrying Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) System. An unprecedented milestone in the aviation industry, the EH216-S is the first unmanned eVTOL in the world to obtain TC and be qualified for commercial passenger-carrying UAV operations in China.
EHang’s European UAM Center inauguration Download the photo
The EH216-S deployed at EHang’s European UAM Center will foster the accumulation of operational experience as well as invaluable knowledge. By integrating vast flight experience gathered from various locations worldwide, this collective information can be leveraged to the development of technological solutions, regulations, processes and procedures for the safe and efficient integration of eVTOL aircraft into European airspace in the future.
The UAM Center includes a vertiport that is fully compliance with EASA’s design criteria and will enable seamlessly incorporation with the airport terminal, platform, control tower, equipment, procedures and regulations. This state-of-the-art vertiport will set a benchmark for global UAM infrastructure and accumulate a vast amount of knowledge and expertise on the vertiport establishment and operations, which will enable intelligent eVTOL operating models and facilitate their smart deployment across multiple locations.
During the inauguration event, Mr. Huazhi Hu, Founder, Chairman and CEO of EHang, stated, “The establishment of EHang’s European UAM Center marks an important step forward in the Company’s international development. Through this world-class UAM center, EHang expects to manifest its strong commitment with the development and deployment of UAM in Europe. EHang aims to share our certified and validated technology and operational experience with our partners around the world in the future to make our shared vision for benefiting all of society with safe, autonomous and eco-friendly UAM solutions.”
Mr. Marc Sanglas, Secretary of Mobility and Infrastructure of Catalonian Government in Spain, commented, “We are especially proud of the cooperation with EHang, a leading technology company in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles in the world, to whom we are grateful for having chosen our international airport as their first European UAM Center.”
Ms. Victoria Xiang, COO of EHang Europe and Latin America, commented, “EHang’s European UAM Center was initially conceived for supporting the Company’s operations and activities under SESAR-JU’s U-ELCOME and EUSPA’s SAMVA projects. In addition, we are looking at scaling its applications to advance innovative air mobility projects as well as EASA’s certification and airworthiness requirements to further promote industry development and make UAM a reality in Europe, which is a future we are looking forward to creating.”
EH216-S at LEDA Vertiport with the airport behind Download the photo
About EHang
EHang (Nasdaq: EH) is the world’s leading urban air mobility (“UAM”) technology platform company. Our mission is to enable safe, autonomous, and eco-friendly air mobility accessible to everyone. EHang provides customers in various industries with unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) systems and solutions: air mobility (including passenger transportation and logistics), smart city management, and aerial media solutions. EHang has obtained the world’s first type certificate for unmanned eVTOL from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2023. As the forerunner of cutting-edge UAV technologies and commercial solutions in the global UAM industry, EHang continues to explore the boundaries of the sky to make flying technologies benefit our life in smart cities. For more information, please visit www.ehang.com.
About Aeroports de Catalunya
Aeroports de Catalunya is responsible of managing airports, aerodromes, and helipads of Catalonia, Spain. Aeroports de Catalunya has the mission of connecting Catalonia to the world through its aeronautical infrastructures and contributing to face the challenge of a more sustainable future for the aeronautical sector, and the purpose of promoting both the development of aviation and the airspace as the qualitative growth of passengers and cargo.
About SESAR JU
As the technological pillar of the Single European Sky initiative, SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) aims to modernise and harmonise air traffic management in Europe. The SESAR JU was established in 2007 as a public-private partnership to support this endeavour. It does so by pooling the knowledge and resources of the entire Air Traffic Management (ATM) community in order to define, research, develop and validate innovative technological and operational solutions. The SESAR JU is also responsible for the execution of the European ATM Master Plan which defines the EU priorities for R&D and implementation. Founded by the European Union and Eurocontrol, the SESAR JU has 19 members, who together with their partners and affiliate associations will represent over 100 companies working in Europe and beyond. The SESAR JU also works closely with staff associations, regulators, airport operators, airspace users and the scientific community.
Learn more about SESAR: www.sesar.eu and www.sesarju.eu.
About EUSPA
EUSPA is the user-oriented operational European Union Agency for the Space Programme. The agency’s core mission is to implement the EU Space Programme, and to provide reliable, safe and secure space-related services, maximizing their socio-economic benefits for European society and business. EUSPA’s goal is to provide long-term, state-of-the-art safe and secure Galileo and EGNOS positioning, navigation, and timing services and cost-effective satellite communications services for GOVSATCOM, whilst ensuring service continuity and robustness. It also aims to communicate, promote, and develop the market for data, information and services offered by Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus and GOVSATCOM.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “aims,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “likely to” and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about management’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to those relating to EH216-S Type Certification, our expectations regarding demand for, and market acceptance of, our AAV products and solutions and the commercialization of UAM services, our relationships with strategic partners, and current litigation and potential litigation involving us. Management has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While they believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond management’s control. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause EHang’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
