Company in Hefei, E China's Anhui builds "air expressway" to speed up delivery of goods, medical supplies

Around noon on May 14, a drone landed at an industrial park in Baohe district, Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, delivering coffee from a shopping mall 3 kilometers away. The coffee remained refreshingly cold.

"The route was opened two months ago. It's our 80th regularly operating drone route in Hefei," said Su Ruixia, deputy general manager of Hefei Songba Feihe Low Altitude Logistics Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of drone manufacturer Antwork Technology. Since launching operations in February 2024, the company has established nearly 100 drone routes across the city.

A delivery drone from Hefei Songba Feihe Low Altitude Logistics Co., Ltd. prepares to land. (People's Daily Online/Miao Zijian)

In February 2024, Antwork Technology set up its national operations center in Baohe district, Hefei. The following month, the city's first blood delivery drone route was launched, along with six others supporting emergency medical needs such as blood, medication, lab samples, and medical supplies.

"The drones fly at around 100 meters and cover about 1 kilometer per minute," Su explained. Compared to traditional methods, drones cut delivery time by more than half, ensuring a faster response for urgent hospital supplies, Su said.

Early one morning last July, a woman undergoing surgery at a Hefei hospital suffered severe bleeding and urgently needed a large blood supply. Within two hours, drones made eight round trips, flying a total of about 170 kilometers and delivering over 10,000 milliliters of blood.

A drone prepares to land at a blood center in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Tao Wei)

"Since the delivery routes were launched, daily medical drone flights have grown from two to three to over 100. We've opened nearly 100 routes and built close to 40 drone hubs," said Su.

Behind the drone delivery routes is a team of drone operators. "Each operator monitors up to eight drones flying in different cities," said 23-year-old Zhang Yuxin, a drone operator at the national operations center of Hefei Songba Feihe Low Altitude Logistics Co., Ltd. At the monitoring center, pilots like Zhang oversee drone operations in more than 30 cities, ensuring "air expressways" operate smoothly and safely.