EHang and Aerotree announce Malaysia eVTOL partnership

Chinese electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) developer EHang Holdings has announced a strategic partnership with Malaysian aviation firm Aerotree Group, for the joint development of the urban air mobility (UAM) industry in Malaysia.

As part of the agreement, Aerotree has placed an order for 50 units of EHang’s EH216 16-propeller, two-seater eVTOLs, and 10 units of EHang’s VT-30 long-range two-seater eVTOL.

When the aircraft are ready to enter full operation, the aircraft are intended to operate autonomously, with flight paths managed via a command centre.

Aerotree has an Air Service Permit license, issued by the Malaysian Aviation Commission, which will enable it to operate the aircraft within Malaysian airspace.

In addition, Aerotree’s Managing Director Dato’ Halim Bin Othman, said that Aerotree will be ‘leveraging our full spectrum of capabilities and partnerships that span from Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul to training’ as part of the partnership.

EHang Founder, Chairman and CEO Huazhi Hu said: “Our comprehensive Autonomous Aerial Vehicle products and solutions are well suited to a variety of intracity and intercity UAM use cases in Malaysia, such as passenger transportation, aerial sightseeing, aerial firefighting and aerial logistics.

He added that ‘rising demand and preorders’ for the aircraft in Japan and Malaysia ‘will unleash great market potential for EHang in Asia’.

Fellow eVTOL developer Volocopter signed a similar memorandum of understanding with South Korean mobility provider Kakao Mobility in November 2021.