This first-tier city has ushered in a new airport.

According to reports from Southern Metropolis Daily and Shenzhen TV News, the Civil Aviation Administration of China Central and Southern Regional Administration has recently issued an official approval: the original Shenzhen Nantou Heliport located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, will be relocated to the Zhangkengjing area of Longhua District, with its official standard name confirmed as "Shenzhen Longhua Airport".

As a Class A1 general aviation airport, Shenzhen Longhua Airport covers a total land area of around 258,300 square meters, with a floor area of approximately 90,000 square meters. Its construction scale is more than twice that of the original site, with a total investment of about 1 billion yuan.

The airport is planned to be equipped with an 800-meter runway and 26 aprons, with a full set of supporting general aviation facilities including a command and operation complex building, multiple types of hangars, aviation material warehouses, and maintenance support buildings. It is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2027.

Currently, the low-altitude economy has been listed as an emerging pillar industry, becoming a trillion-yuan track that major cities are competing to seize.

As one of the earliest-developed cities with the most complete system across the country, Shenzhen has taken a leading position nationwide. According to the *Urban Low-Altitude Economy "Connectivity Index" (2026)* jointly released by National Business Daily · NBD Think Tank, Urban Evolution Theory and Firestone Creation, Shenzhen ranks first nationwide in the "Connectivity Index" relying on its leading advantages across the entire industrial chain.

At present, Shenzhen has set its target of building "the world's top city for low-altitude economy", and is deploying the construction of a global low-altitude economy headquarters R&D center, high-end intelligent manufacturing center, full-scenario demonstration and verification center, and one-stop solution supply center.

To turn this blueprint into reality, the support of hub-level infrastructure is indispensable. Shenzhen Longhua Airport emerges against this background, and is positioned as "the largest low-altitude takeoff and landing hub in Shenzhen in the future".

The predecessor of this airport is Shenzhen's first completed and put-into-use Nantou Heliport. Before the relocation, Nantou Heliport was mainly responsible for transporting personnel and materials for the operation services of South China Sea oil drilling platforms. However, along with urban development, the surrounding area of Nantou Heliport has become an important agglomeration area of Shenzhen's high-tech industries, making relocation an inevitable choice.

In accordance with the *Shenzhen High-Quality Construction Plan for Low-Altitude Infrastructure (2024-2026)*, after the Longhua Zhangkengjing Heliport is put into use, its service and support capabilities for vertical take-off and landing aircraft such as helicopters and eVTOL will be improved. The plan also proposes to "build Shenzhen's low-altitude operation headquarters base, create the Longhua Zhangkengjing full-scenario demonstration center, and realize a variety of application scenarios including low-altitude logistics, manned flight, and integration of low and high altitude operations".

From the perspective of the public, the removal of the word "helicopter" from the original name "Nantou Heliport" to the new name "Shenzhen Longhua Airport" is an intuitive footnote to the upgrading of its functional positioning.

According to local media reports, Shenzhen Longhua Airport will realize the integration of multiple scenarios including public services, commercial operations and technical tests in the future, and become a super test field and full-scenario demonstration center for the low-altitude economy.

This also conforms to the shift in industry competition logic: as the low-altitude economy enters normal operation, regions are no longer only competing for complete aircraft and industrial chains, but focusing on how to make full use of scenario advantages to take the lead in realizing large-scale profitability.

For Shenzhen, Longhua Airport is not only a reconstruction of the urban spatial pattern, but also will provide key support for Shenzhen to accelerate the construction of "the world's top city for low-altitude economy".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution Theory", the author is Liu Yanmei, and it is released with authorization from 36Kr.