Abstract. This article analyzes the Chinese experience in organizing the development and production of a fundamentally new type of civil aircraft – passenger unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – from a logistical perspective. The emergence of this class of civil aircraft in China is the result of the extensive expertise of Chinese engineers in designing and manufacturing cargo UAVs, as well as both cargo and passenger aircraft equipped with electric propulsion systems. Of particular interest is a critical review of the efforts to identify an effective design solution for a passenger UAV platform, as developed by the AutoFlight company. For Russian leaders in aerospace projects, the Chinese experience in organizational, financial, and marketing support-combined with technical analysis-offers valuable and practically applicable insights.

Keywords: passenger unmanned aerial vehicles, cargo unmanned aerial vehicles, fire-fighting unmanned aerial vehicles, search for optimal design solutions, certification, flight tests, aerospace innovation development strategy, logistics, marketing, technology corporation, on-board electronic systems, general design, modeling

For citation: Vashchenko А. N., Grigoriev M. N. Analysis of the experience of practical organization of the development and production of passenger UAVs in the People’s Republic of China. Aerospace Engineering and Technology. 2025. Vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 97–124. DOI 10.52467/2949-401X-2025-3-1-97-124. EDN CIVDWF (In Russian)