PREVIEW

Meet China’s answer to the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft revolution - an ultralight personal craft that can whizz owners around cities.

Chinese aviation start-up Yivtol, has secured the nation’s first special flight permit for its single-seat S-Zero - which allows ultralight aircraft under 116 kilograms to operate recreationally.

The approval marks a significant milestone for the start-up, which showcased the craft at the Aero Asia show in Zhuhai in late November.
Yivtol has also finalised insurance arrangements with China CR Insurance, covering hull, passenger and third-party liability. The agreement is expected to pave the way for demonstration flights, tourism operations and pilot training activities.

The company says the S-Zero recently completed a comprehensive wind-wall and wind-tunnel testing programme in Shenzhen, which it believes is the first of its kind for an ultralight eVTOL.

During the trials, the aircraft was subjected to both continuous airflow and time-varying gusts replicating real atmospheric turbulence, with controlled conditions spanning wind speeds equivalent to Beaufort scale 2 to 7.

The S-Zero features a folding four-arm, eight-rotor layout for ease of transport and storage. One-touch controls manage engine start, take-off and landing, and the aircraft incorporates a titanium-alloy frame, airframe airbag and parachute system. Its semi-solid-state battery can be swapped within two minutes and uses an advanced battery-management system.
Yivtol is already working on a next-generation aircraft, the S-One. Maintaining the folding ultralight design, it introduces a four-ducted-fan propulsion system and extensive carbon-fibre construction to meet the 116-kg limit.

The new model also includes an autonomous flight-management system designed to plan routes, avoid obstacles, and handle take-off and landing while gradually learning a pilot’s preferences.

The company says both aircraft share a maximum speed of about 70 km/h, a 30-minute flight endurance, and a range of 35 km. Payload is limited to 100 kg.

The company exhibited at Drone Tech Dubai earlier this year and says authorities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have expressed early support for potential operations.

Co-founder Chen Yuan believes ultralight eVTOLs will initially find demand in sport and tourism but could ultimately form part of broader low-altitude urban mobility networks once supporting infrastructure and regulation mature. He predicts full development of large-scale, crewed low-altitude transport could take between five and eight years, but that ultralights are ready for deployment much sooner.

Yivtol has established partnerships with five of China’s six pilot cities—including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Wuhan—to conduct demonstration projects. Trial operations began in August, and the company plans to build a production facility in Chengdu’s Eastern New Area with a targeted annual output of 1,000 aircraft.

The firm plans to exhibit at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, where it intends to deliver an S-Zero to a US customer - its first such international handover.