The 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala’s Hefei sub‑venue turned China’s most watched TV moment into a showcase for the low‑altitude aviation industry. On a park field in Hefei, 16 two‑seat eVTOLs framed a circular formation while a separate display of 22,580 GD4.0 drones painted three‑dimensional images in the night sky, earning a Guinness world record for single‑computer control of the largest simultaneous takeoff.
Both types of aircraft came from EHang and its sub‑brands. The 16 electric vertical‑takeoff‑and‑landing vehicles were EH216‑S machines, a two‑seat model that has already won a string of Chinese regulatory approvals: a type‑certificate, a production licence and a standard airworthiness certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Their operator in Hefei — Hefei HeYi Aviation — received one of the country’s first operational certificates for manned civilian unmanned aircraft in March 2025 and has been conducting limited regular commercial trial flights locally.
The GD4.0 drone, EHang says, is a next‑generation formation platform with roughly 45 minutes of endurance, centimetre‑level positioning and hardware and software designed for large‑scale cooperative control even in cold night conditions. The company emphasised that the 22,580‑unit flight was not a technological ceiling and pointed to challenges it has overcome in high‑density scheduling, anti‑interference resilience and synchronised multi‑aircraft stability.
Hefei is not accidental as a venue. The city has positioned itself as one of China’s demonstration hubs for the emerging “low‑altitude economy”, hosting two operational air‑traffic operation centres and pilot projects for airspace reform and infrastructure. Bringing both piloted eVTOLs and very large drone swarms into a high‑visibility, public entertainment context shows how local governments, manufacturers and operators are moving from isolated demonstrations toward integrated, publicly visible trials.
Commercially, the two display types currently occupy different trajectories. Drone formations already have an established revenue model tied to live events, branding and night‑time urban attractions. Manned eVTOLs, by contrast, are still negotiating a path from demonstration and short shuttle trials to routine, revenue‑generating services; they must clear tougher hurdles on sustained safety validation, per‑seat economics, reliable route planning and infrastructure such as vertiports and charging networks.
The spectacle underlines several systemic challenges. Mass coordinated flights raise demanding requirements for redundant safety systems, command and control resilience, cybersecurity and robust spectrum management. Even with centimetre‑level positioning, real‑world operations must cope with electromagnetic interference, jamming risk and complex urban meteorology. Scaling from curated, one‑off displays to everyday transportation services will require tighter regulatory frameworks, public‑space management and urban planning adjustments.
More broadly, the Gala moment matters because of audience and policy effects. The Spring Festival Gala is a nationwide communications megaphone; the extensive exposure helps normalise otherwise obscure technologies and creates public expectation. That public familiarity can accelerate policy attention and private investment, yet it also raises the political stakes of any incident, making regulators more cautious about rapid expansion.
The Hefei show therefore marks a transition: low‑altitude flying is moving out of labs and pilots into stage‑front spectacle and limited commercial operation. The event is a public relations and technical milestone for EHang and Hefei, but it does not obviate the regulatory, economic and safety work that will determine whether eVTOLs and large drone fleets become routine urban infrastructure or remain high‑profile demonstrations.