On February 21, a drone carrying 20 copies of Party newspapers and periodicals and 16 mail items took off from the integrated bus and postal station in Bancheng town under Jiangsu Sihong Postal Branch in Suqian, Jiangsu province, and landed on Mudun island in Hongze Lake after a 10-minute flight. This marks the successful flight test on the first drone route to villages in Jiangsu province.

As the only island in Hongze Lake, Mudun island is located in Bancheng town of Sihong county and covers an area of 1.96 square kilometers. There are over 150 households living there, primarily engaging in aquaculture. As the island is more than 10 kilometers away from the land, the efficiency of waterway transportation cannot guarantee the prompt delivery of emergency supplies as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. To address the challenges of mail delivery, Jiangsu Sihong Postal Branch initiated a pilot application of “low-altitude plus delivery” and opened the first drone route to villages in the province. Since then, the village-bound mail items have been delivered by drones rather than postmen. And the delivery time from the integrated bus and postal station in Bancheng town to Mudun island has been reduced by 50 minutes compared with ferry delivery, which has greatly improved the islanders’ experience of postal service.

The drone used in the flight test has a maximum load capacity of 40 kilograms and flies at a speed of 20 meters per second. Next, the postal branch plans to build an infrastructure network and establish a low-altitude economy collaborative network system for the seamless coordination between air and ground operations, thereby fully promoting digital and intelligent services with drones and unmanned vehicles. Additionally, it will pilot low-altitude logistics instant distribution services such as business flash delivery, transit of express items and distribution of medicine, integrate deeply with government affair management and other services, and push forward the coordinated development of low-altitude economy and smart logistics.