BEIJING, Aug 12 Reuters Engineers sent China39;s biggestyet cargo drone on a test run over the weekend while a helicopter taxi took to the skies on a soontoopen 100km 62mile route to Shanghai, laying new milestones for the country39;s expanding lowaltitude economy.

Packing a payload capacity of 2 metric tons, the twinengine cargo drone developed by statefunded Sichuan Tengden Scitech Innovation Co took off in southwestern Sichuan province on Sunday for its inaugural flight that lasted approximately 20 minutes, state media reported.

The Tengdenbuilt drone, with a wingspan of 16.1 m 52.8 ft and a height of 4.6 m 15 ft, is slightly larger than the world39;s most popular light aircraft, the fourseat Cessna 172.

Manufacturers in the world39;s top dronemaking nation are testing ever larger payloads while transport companies are planning air taxi services both manned and unmanned as China loosens airspace curbs and grants incentives to build up a lowaltitude economy. Its aviation regulator foresees a 2trillionyuan 279billion industry by 2030, for a fourfold expansion from 2023.

The Tengden trial run followed the maiden flight in June of a cargo drone developed by stateowned Aviation Industry Corp of China AVIC, the leading aerospace enterprise.

The AVIC39;s HH100 has a payload capacity of 700 kg 1,543 pounds and a flight radius of 520 km. Next year, AVIC plans to test its biggest cargo drone, the TP2000, which can carry up to 2 tons of cargo and fly four times farther than…