Volant Aviation Signs Deal with Thailand: 1.75 Billion US Dollar Order for 500 eVTOLs Reshapes Southeast Asia's Low-Altitude Traffic Pattern
In September 2025, exciting news came from the 2025 Shanghai International Low-Altitude Economy Expo: Shanghai Volant Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. of China officially signed a procurement agreement with Thailand's Pan Pacific Group, under which the latter will purchase 500 VE25 series eVTOLs (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft) from Volant, with a total order value of up to 1.75 billion US dollars. This cooperation not only sets a new record for the largest single eVTOL order in Southeast Asia, but also marks that China's domestic passenger-grade eVTOL technology has gained high recognition from the international mainstream market, building a solid bridge for China-Thailand low-altitude economic cooperation and driving the urban air mobility (UAM) industry in Southeast Asia into a new stage of large-scale development.
This signing is not accidental, but an inevitable result of the two-way alignment between Volant Aviation's technological accumulation and Thailand's demand for low-altitude traffic development. As a leading enterprise in China's low-altitude economy sector, Volant was established in June 2021. Its core team gathers senior talents from world-class aviation enterprises such as COMAC, Airbus and GE, with a total of more than 400 years of model development experience, making it one of the most fully organized eVTOL R&D teams in the industry. Its flagship product, the VE25 series eVTOL, adopts a compound wing structure with a maximum take-off weight of 2.5 tons, capable of carrying 1 pilot and 5 passengers, a cruising speed of 235 km/h, and a range of 200-400 km. It is one of the manned eVTOLs with the largest take-off weight and the widest cabin space in the world, integrating safety, economy and practicality. Up to now, Volant has accumulated more than 1,600 eVTOL orders, with cooperative customers covering major domestic airlines and leasing enterprises, and its technological maturity and market recognition are among the top echelons of the industry.
From the perspective of Thailand's market demand, the procurement order of 500 eVTOLs accurately meets the core needs of its urban traffic upgrading and island tourism development. As a major tourism and economic hub in Southeast Asia, Thailand's core cities such as Bangkok are facing increasingly severe ground traffic congestion. Meanwhile, popular islands such as Phuket and Koh Samui are restricted by geographical conditions, resulting in low inter-island commuting efficiency. Traditional transportation methods are difficult to meet the needs of passengers for convenient travel and logistics transportation. With the unique advantages of vertical take-off and landing and low-altitude flight, eVTOLs do not require special runways, and can quickly realize short-distance commuting in cities and point-to-point connection between islands. They can not only alleviate traffic pressure in Bangkok, but also greatly improve the travel experience of island tourism, filling the market gap in Thailand's low-altitude passenger traffic.
It is worth noting that this order is not only the largest single eVTOL order in Southeast Asia, but also an important milestone for China's high-grade passenger eVTOLs to enter the international market. In recent years, China's low-altitude economy industry has developed rapidly, and the reform of low-altitude airspace has been continuously promoted, providing a good environment for eVTOL technology R&D and commercialization. With its leading advantages in core technological breakthroughs and airworthiness certification, Volant has become a benchmark enterprise for China's eVTOLs "going global" — its VE25-100 model has officially entered the type certification process of the Civil Aviation Administration of China Eastern Regional Administration, being the first passenger-carrying eVTOL project in the region to receive airworthiness acceptance. It is expected to obtain the type certificate by the end of 2025, laying a solid foundation for order delivery. This cooperation with Thailand's Pan Pacific Group has broken the monopoly of international leading enterprises on the Southeast Asian eVTOL market, demonstrating the core competitiveness of China's low-altitude equipment manufacturing.
From the perspective of industry impact, this signing will promote in-depth integration of China-Thailand low-altitude economic cooperation. According to the agreement, these eVTOLs will be mainly used in air traffic and island commuting scenarios in cities such as Bangkok and Phuket. In the follow-up, the two parties will also carry out in-depth cooperation in fields such as low-altitude infrastructure construction and operation and maintenance talent training. In recent years, Thailand has been accelerating the development of the low-altitude economy, with about 130,000 registered UAVs, and it is expected that this number will exceed 1 million in the next 10 years. At the same time, it has introduced a series of regulatory policies and development plans to provide policy guarantee for the commercial operation of eVTOLs. Volant's entry will bring advanced eVTOL technology and operation experience to Thailand, helping Thailand build a demonstration base for low-altitude traffic in Southeast Asia.
From a global perspective, as the core carrier of the low-altitude economy, eVTOLs are becoming an important direction for the upgrading of transportation industries in various countries. Due to its geographical characteristics of dense islands and inconvenient transportation, Southeast Asia has become a "natural test ground" for the commercialization of eVTOLs. Volant's signing of this huge overseas order not only injects strong momentum into its own commercialization process, but also promotes the transformation of China's eVTOL industry from "technological R&D" to "large-scale going global", providing a "Chinese solution" for the development of global low-altitude traffic. With the gradual delivery and commissioning of the order, it will further activate the vitality of the Southeast Asian low-altitude economic market, drive the coordinated development of related industrial chains such as infrastructure and operation and maintenance services, and reshape the regional traffic pattern.
The signing between Volant and Thailand's Pan Pacific Group is a vivid embodiment of the in-depth integration of China-Thailand economic and trade cooperation and scientific and technological cooperation, as well as an important epitome of the rise of China's low-altitude economy industry. In the future, with the mass delivery of Volant's VE25 series eVTOLs and the full implementation of airworthiness certification, it is expected to promote more domestic Chinese low-altitude equipment to enter the international market, while helping Thailand achieve the modernization upgrading of low-altitude traffic, inject new momentum into the high-quality development of the low-altitude economy in Southeast Asia, and write a new chapter of win-win cooperation between China and Thailand.
