00:00Chinese flying taxi maker Ihang has been conducting test flights in Thailand in collaboration with local authorities and partners.
00:07The tests involve its pilotless electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle.
00:13That's a mouthful. Better call it eVTOLs.
00:16Taking place in the so-called sandbox zone near Bangkok.
00:20Ihang hopes the process will help fast track commercial operations in the Southeast Asian nation.
00:26Joining us exclusively now from Bangkok is Ihang CFO Conor Yang.
00:31Conor, good to see you again.
00:33So it's an exciting area, obviously, in the low altitude economy for sure.
00:40Where are we on the regulatory process where you can get this commercially approved and viable outside of China and not just in a sandbox?
00:50Oh, yeah. It's very exciting that we have launched our first commercial trial flight using the sandbox approach globally in Thailand here.
01:03And, you know, Thailand is ideal places for using eVTOL for advanced air mobility.
01:09You know, with 35 million overseas travelers a year and densely populated urban areas and persistent traffic contractions.
01:20That eVTOL can really solve the traffic problem here.
01:24So we're very excited about the initiatives.
01:26And yesterday's event was also attended by the Director General of Civil Aviation Authority in Thailand as well as the Senior Officer of Ministry of Transport here.
01:40So we've got a strong support from Thailand's government.
01:44Their target is to have this eVTOL commercial operation happen using the sandbox approach in, like, three months' time.
01:55You know, if that happened, Director General's goal is to have Thailand become the first country using sandbox approach for commercial operation globally.
02:07And we're really excited about this.
02:10And so after the trial flight, if we accumulate enough safe data, which we believe we will,
02:16and we should be able to receive the permit for commercial operation in the confined area, so-called sandbox approach.
02:25And we will expand that into many other locations, such as Phuket Island, such as Koh Samui, Koh Tao, and Pattaya, and many other places.
02:37So we meant to build Thailand as a regulatory and operational blueprint for our global expansion.
02:44Yeah, countries such as, other than Thailand, countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, you know,
02:52those surrounding countries in the Southeast Asia, they're also watching Thailand's move.
02:58If this happens using sandbox approach, that means global expansion will be quickly expanded into other part of the world.
03:07So, Connor, you mentioned three months, correct me if I'm wrong, is the timetable.
03:13After three months is when you want to start commercial operations in the sandbox.
03:17Could you be more specific on the timeline when you hope and aspire to have commercial operations in many of those other cities and places in Thailand?
03:28Yeah, that's the goal that in the press release that the Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, that's, you know, they want to make it happen.
03:41And as I said, that Thailand is a very, very important, a strategy important for the global expansion and use that as a blueprint to expand.
03:51And not only Southeast Asia, but we also have seen that country in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, they are also extremely interested in deploying EVITO for, like, advanced air mobility.
04:05Yeah, so after this, you know, hopefully that by second half, the first half of next year, you know, you will be, when you visit Thailand many places,
04:15you will be able to purchase tickets to save your traffic time, and also that could be useful for aerial sightseeing as well.
04:25What are your biggest challenges there outside of China?
04:28I know in China, the low altitude airspace is largely controlled by the military, so there's lots of regulatory hoops you have to jump through
04:37and get beyond the sandbox and into commercialization in the various municipalities.
04:42In some place like Thailand, did you pick Thailand because you find that the regulatory environment is maybe even a little bit more relaxed?
04:50I don't mean to put you in a position where you're trying to get ahead of the regulators, because you're at the mercy of air traffic regulation and government regulations.
04:58But did you find it more amenable to this kind of innovation if you're on a three-month timeline?
05:03It seems pretty fast.
05:04Well, you know, the Thai government is very proactive, you know, in terms of making this happen.
05:13The global air, advanced air mobility, you know, globally, there are many, many countries interested in developing this EVITO
05:22as a new traffic vehicle for transportation to solve the traffic stream problem.
05:30And, of course, that is a new industry and globally haven't had any country starting commercial operation yet.
05:39There are definitely that there's hurdles need to go through, but we believe, you know,
05:43in the long term that air taxi will happen, you know, people can use EVITO to solve many traffic problems.
05:51And we hope that we continue this effort to communicating with the authority globally in many countries, especially Thailand.
06:02So hopefully that we will make it happen together with help from the authority in Thailand.
06:07Conor, in about 30 seconds or so, if you could, because we're almost out of time, what's the next market after Thailand?
06:16Yeah, here that Middle East, we have seen strong interest from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar,
06:24and also countries such as in here, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, you know,
06:33these could be the potential country for next step once Thailand start commercial operation using the sandbox approach.
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