A trial flight for the cross-city helicopter route between Lishui's Qingtian county and Wenzhou's Longwan district. [Photo/Tide News]

A trial flight for the cross-city helicopter route between Lishui's Qingtian county and Wenzhou's Longwan district was conducted on Nov 12, which is Longwan's first cross-city helicopter route.

A helicopter took off from Longwan at 10:40 am and landed in Qingtian just 20 minutes later instead of the much longer 80-minute commute by car.

The new cross-city helicopter route between Longwan International Airport and Qingtian slashes travel time, promoting economic exchange and development between the two regions.

Qingtian and Longwan share a long history of close ties. Qingtian is known as one of the hometowns of overseas Chinese, with 380,000 of its residents now living overseas. Longwan, home to Wenzhou Longwan International Airport, serves as a gateway for southern Zhejiang's international interactions.

Zhou Yong, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Qingtian Imported Commodity City, was among the passengers on this trial flight. "The low-altitude flight offers breathtaking scenery," Zhou said, noting that the launch of the new cross-city helicopter route can significantly shorten the homecoming journey for many overseas Chinese to return Lishui.

Based on this trial flight, Qingtian plans to enhance low-altitude cooperation with Longwan by focusing on areas such as emergency rescue, medical aid, logistics, agriculture, and tourism.