China’s order of 18 AS700 airships shows how low-altitude, low-carbon aviation is becoming a serious piece of green transport and smart city infrastructure.
China’s New Airships and the Future of Green Flight
Zhejiang Airspace Integration just ordered 18 AS700 manned airships from AVIC. For a niche sector like lighter‑than‑air aviation, that’s not a routine fleet refresh — it’s a signal that low‑altitude, low‑carbon flight is about to scale.
Most companies chasing “green aviation” go straight to electric jets and hydrogen planes. Meanwhile, the quieter revolution is happening at a few hundred meters above the ground, at 80–100 km/h, in aircraft that float more than they burn. That’s why this move from China matters far beyond its borders.
This article breaks down what this airship purchase actually means, how low‑altitude airspace is becoming a strategic asset, and where the opportunities are for businesses that care about green technology, smart cities, and clean transport.
What China’s 18‑Airship Deal Really Signals
China’s order of 18 AS700 manned airships is one of the largest modern acquisitions of crewed lighter‑than‑air vehicles. That’s not a tech demo. That’s an ecosystem bet.
Who’s involved and why it matters
- Buyer: Zhejiang Airspace Integration Low-Altitude Industry Development Company (a regional player focused on low‑altitude economic development)
- Supplier: AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China), the state‑owned aerospace giant
- Platform: AS700 manned airship, designed for low‑altitude operations such as sightseeing, patrol, and special missions
When a provincial development company signs for 18 airships, you’re looking at:
- A plan for repeatable commercial operations, not just R&D
- Integration with tourism, logistics, emergency response, and surveillance
- A test bed for green aviation regulation and digital airspace management
This isn’t only about airships. It’s about building a low‑altitude industry: aircraft, infrastructure, data platforms, and services working together.
Why Low-Altitude Airships Matter for Green Technology
For green technology, airships fill a very specific gap: low‑carbon lift for missions where speed isn’t everything.
Energy and emissions: why airships are different
Traditional aircraft fight gravity the entire time. Airships cheat.
- They rely on buoyant lift (usually helium), so propulsion energy mainly goes to moving forward, not staying up.
- At cruise, airships can reduce fuel or electricity use per passenger‑kilometer by 30–80% compared with helicopters, depending on configuration and mission profile.
- They operate at lower speeds (typically 60–120 km/h), which is a disadvantage for time‑critical missions but ideal for sightseeing, inspection, and patrol.
When you add hybrid or fully electric propulsion, you get three big environmental wins:
- Lower direct emissions per flight
- Less noise pollution, which is crucial in cities and sensitive ecosystems
- Reduced infrastructure footprint, since they don’t need full-length runways
This matters for any country trying to cut transport emissions while still expanding tourism, logistics, and surveillance capacity.
Where airships beat planes and helicopters
Airships won’t replace jets. They don’t have to. They’re strongest in niches where today we overpay — in fuel, noise, and CO₂ — for capabilities we only partially use.
Typical high‑fit use cases:
- Aerial tourism: slow, scenic, silent flights over coastlines, heritage sites, or nature reserves
- Border and maritime patrol: persistent surveillance at low operating cost
- Environmental monitoring: long‑duration missions with sensors for air quality, wildlife tracking, and climate research
- Remote logistics: delivering light, high‑value cargo to hard‑to‑reach areas without building new runways
The Zhejiang–AVIC deal is likely targeting at least the first three categories, with tourism and patrol as early revenue drivers.
Inside the AS700: A Platform for Electric and Smart Aviation
You can think of the AS700 less as a nostalgic blimp and more as a modular low‑altitude platform that can evolve with green propulsion and AI.
Core characteristics (based on similar modern airships)
Public technical details are limited, but modern manned airships in this category generally feature:
- Capacity: 6–20 passengers plus crew
- Cruise speed: 80–100 km/h
- Endurance: several hours airborne without refueling or recharging
- Operating altitude: typically under 3,000 meters, perfect for low‑altitude corridors
- STOL/VTOL‑like operations: able to use small pads or mooring masts rather than runways
For a low‑altitude industry developer like Zhejiang Airspace Integration, that’s a flexible platform:
- One airframe type can serve tourism in the morning, mapping in the afternoon, and patrol at night (with modular payloads).
- Upgrades to battery packs, fuel cells, or solar skins can extend range as green tech matures.
- Digital systems (autopilots, AI‑assisted navigation, sensor decks) can be integrated without redesigning the whole aircraft.
How AI will quietly run these “slow” aircraft
In our Green Technology series, AI keeps showing up as the “invisible layer” that turns promising hardware into scalable systems. Airships are no exception.
A realistic AS700 ecosystem in the next 5–10 years will lean on AI for:
- Traffic management: coordinating dozens or hundreds of low‑altitude vehicles — drones, eVTOLs, airships — without human controllers micromanaging every movement
- Predictive maintenance: analyzing vibration, temperature, and performance data to schedule maintenance before failures occur
- Route and energy optimization: adjusting cruise speed and altitude to maximize endurance and minimize energy use
- Safety monitoring: detecting weather risks, obstacle conflicts, or pilot fatigue in real time
The hardware (the airship) reduces emissions; the software (AI) makes those savings scalable and profitable.
Building a Low-Altitude Industry: Beyond the Airships
Buying 18 airships is the visible tip. The more interesting part is the infrastructure and policy stack China is building underneath.
What “low-altitude industry” actually means
A functioning low‑altitude ecosystem includes at least five layers:
- Vehicles – airships, drones, eVTOLs, light aircraft
- Ground infrastructure – mooring stations, charging points, maintenance hubs, passenger terminals
- Digital infrastructure – low‑altitude traffic management, data platforms, AI analytics
- Regulation – airspace classification, safety rules, pilot licensing, environmental standards
- Commercial services – operators who turn all this into tourism packages, logistics contracts, and monitoring services
Zhejiang’s mandate suggests a coordinated build‑out across all five. That’s how you go from “we bought 18 airships” to “we run a regional low‑carbon aviation network.”
Integration with smart cities and green transport
This is where the story loops back to smart cities and clean transport, which are core themes of this Green Technology series.
Low‑altitude airships slot into the broader smart city stack by:
- Feeding real‑time environmental data (air quality, traffic heat maps, coastal erosion) into city management platforms
- Supporting resilient infrastructure with rapid assessment after floods, storms, or earthquakes
- Reducing pressure on roads and highways for tourism and inspection traffic
- Acting as test beds for AI‑based air traffic control, which later extends to drones and eVTOL taxis
If you’re working on smart city platforms, grid planning, or ESG reporting, richer aerial data at lower emissions isn’t a nice‑to‑have; it’s a competitive edge.
Where the Business Opportunities Are
The reality? You don’t need to own an airship to profit from this shift. The growth of low‑altitude, low‑carbon aviation opens multiple entry points for businesses and cities.
For technology and data companies
Opportunities cluster around software, analytics, and integrations:
- Low‑altitude traffic management systems that coordinate airships, drones, and eVTOLs
- Environmental intelligence platforms that ingest continuous aerial data streams
- Digital twins of cities and industrial zones enhanced by persistent aerial sensing
- Predictive maintenance tools tailored to hybrid/electric aviation fleets
If you already work in IoT, GIS, or AI, this is a natural adjacent market.
For operators, cities, and tourism regions
Regions with unique landscapes or dense infrastructure can:
- Launch airship‑based eco‑tourism as a premium, low‑impact experience
- Use airships for infrastructure inspection (pipelines, power lines, offshore wind farms)
- Enhance emergency preparedness with airborne command and observation platforms
I’ve seen too many cities treat “green transport” as a bus paint job and a press release. This is different. Deploying low‑emission aerial platforms directly supports resilience, data‑driven planning, and sustainable tourism.
For sustainability and ESG leaders
Airships and other low‑altitude green aviation tools can:
- Reduce Scope 1 and 3 emissions for operations that currently rely on helicopters
- Provide high‑quality monitoring data for environmental and biodiversity reporting
- Demonstrate concrete, visible investments in innovation aligned with net‑zero pathways
If your company operates in mining, energy, transport, or large‑scale agriculture, shifting part of your aerial work from helicopters to low‑emission airships can be a very defensible ESG move.
Risks, Limits, and What Needs to Go Right
I’m bullish on low‑altitude green aviation, but it’s not magic. Several constraints will decide whether this Chinese airship deployment becomes a global reference model or a local experiment.
Technical and operational constraints
- Weather sensitivity: Strong winds, storms, and icing conditions limit operating windows.
- Speed: For time‑critical rescue or VIP missions, airships will often lose to helicopters or fast fixed‑wing aircraft.
- Ground handling: Mooring, hangar space, and trained ground crews are non‑trivial, especially in urban areas.
Any business planning to use airships needs realistic mission profiles and redundancy plans.
Regulatory and acceptance challenges
- Airspace rules for low‑altitude corridors are still evolving globally.
- Public acceptance of new aerial vehicles — especially over cities — depends on strong safety records and transparent communication.
- Helium supply and sustainability must be managed responsibly, with recycling and conservation.
These aren’t reasons to avoid airships. They’re reasons to design data‑driven, regulated deployments instead of PR stunts.
How This Fits the Bigger Green Technology Story
Here’s the thing about green technology: the real progress usually happens in the boring layers — infrastructure, standards, and “slow” vehicles that just keep working.
China’s purchase of 18 AS700 airships is exactly that kind of move. It’s not as flashy as a Mach‑2 hydrogen jet concept, but it will likely:
- Cut emissions on missions that don’t need speed
- Produce better urban and environmental data for AI systems
- Accelerate the creation of regulated, digital low‑altitude airspace
If your organization cares about climate goals, smart cities, or future mobility, now’s the time to:
- Map your own aerial use cases. Where do you rely on helicopters, survey flights, or chartered planes today?
- Identify where speed is non‑critical. Those are your early candidates for low‑altitude green aviation.
- Talk to partners building the ecosystem. That includes green aviation startups, AI traffic management vendors, and regional authorities.
This airship order is a regional story on the surface, but the pattern is global: slower, cleaner, smarter aviation is coming. The question is whether you’re only going to read about it — or build services and systems on top of it.