TMTPOST--China's drone industry has experienced rapid development, with a massive surge in the number of newly registered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the first half of 2024. Nearly 608,000 UAVs were newly registered in H1, rising 48% from the figure registered at the end of 2023, Song Zhiyong, head of the Civil Aviation Administration, told a press conference Wednesday. The cumulative flight time of UAVs reached nearly 9.82 million hours in the first half of the year, an increase of 134,000 hours over the same period last year, Song added. "The data indicate that China's low-altitude economy is entering a stage of rapid development," Song said.