China’s largest parcel service orders 100 hybrid aircraft without crew

China’s largest Express package service has recently placed an order over 100 autonomous cargo aircraft. SF Express, according to the group’s name, wants to have unmanned unmanned freight machines of the ES1000 freight machines built on a large scale aircraft manufacturer.

SF Express primarily wants to operate short distances

Loud Cnbeta Order a subsidiary of the largest Chinese Express deliverer SF Express a total of 100 YIFE Aviation ES1000 aircraft. The new aircraft was not officially presented until November 2024 and does without a crew. The freight machines are significantly larger than drones and are mainly used where instead of regular landingways, only small airfields or even streets or other unpaved areas can be used for landing. Due to the increased flexibility, the machines should also be able to efficiently reach remote or sub -supplied places.

With the ES1000, SF Express wants to be on regional routes and the “last mile”, where you can get by with extremely short start and runway lengths. The plane is built by Yifei Aviation, whereby the partners have not yet given any information about when the regular operation of the machines should start at SF Express.

Yifei Aviation’s ES1000 uses a hybrid-electric drive and is marketed as a “Estol” freight aircraft, the control of which is to be carried out from a distance. The machine can serve “Ultra-Short Take-Off and Landing” (USTOL) applications and should be able to start and land within just 100 meters.

The maximum starting weight of the machine is given by Yifei with 4500 kilograms, whereby the payload can be a maximum of 1.8 tons. The maximum range should be 1200 kilometers, while the machine has a travel speed of 300 km/h.