11 Low-Altitude Financing Deals, Zero Flowing to Operations: If Capital Won't Invest, Where Will the Funding for Operations Come From?
A recent industry financing report has deeply frustrated many low-altitude economy operators.
Based on incomplete statistics from public disclosures (August to mid-October 2026): out of 11 low-altitude financing deals, 8 went to OEMs manufacturing aircraft, and 3 went to component and sensor suppliers. Not a single deal went to companies primarily focused on operations.
For comparison, a leading eVTOL company can raise hundreds of millions of CNY in a single funding round, whereas the overall valuation of many low-altitude operation platforms is not even a fraction of that amount.
Many industry peers are deeply pessimistic after seeing this: "Capital simply looks down on operations. We do the hardest and most grueling work, yet receive the least funding."
I disagree. The lack of capital investment is not because operations are unprofitable, but because most operating companies have yet to transform themselves into "assets that capital can comprehend."
Since capital refuses to invest in operations, where exactly should the funding come from? From my perspective, I will break down four funding channels.
I. Why Does Capital Shun "Pure Operations"?
First, let's face reality. The underlying logic of market-driven capital rests on three pillars: heavy assets that can be used as collateral, standardized models that can be replicated, and single factors that can be controlled.
Conversely, most low-altitude operating companies are the exact opposite: asset-light (lacking collateral), non-standardized (requiring customization for every scenario), and characterized by multi-factor coupling (airspace, government, OEMs, and customers—none can be missing).
More critically, most operating companies earn money from "arbitrage"—buying low and selling high on services—rather than from "assets." Capital would rather invest in an OEM's factories, equipment, and airworthiness certification progress than fund an operating team that "flies today if there are orders and shuts down tomorrow if there are none."
Therefore, the first cognitive shift required to break the deadlock is: stop trying to get capital to invest in your "operating services," and instead get them to invest in your "operating assets."
II. Shift in Mindset: From "Earning Arbitrage" to "Building Assets"
Having navigated cross-industry commerce for over 20 years, I know how business truly makes money. It is never by just selling bricks, but by relying on three elements: cash flow (rent), asset appreciation (increased revenue per square meter), and capital exit (REITs/M&A).
The logic for low-altitude operations is exactly the same. Vertiports are retail stores, flight routes are customer traffic flows, and members are private domain traffic.
If you treat vertiports merely as "parking lots for aircraft," you will forever remain a property management company collecting landing fees; however, if you treat vertiports as "traffic entry points" and "operating assets," your growth ceiling will be completely shattered.
Since equity capital refuses to knock on your door, the funding must be unearthed from the following four channels:
III. Four Major Funding Channels: How Can Operating Companies Generate Their Own Funding?
Channel 1: Secure "Industrial Capital" from the Government (Using the Logic of Investment Promotion)
Do not just focus on government "route subsidies"—subsidy phase-outs are the prevailing trend. What you need to secure are "industrial funds" and "concession rights."
What is the biggest concern for local governments right now? Industrial implementation and tax revenue. If your operating project can attract an OEM's assembly line, component supply chains, and low-altitude educational tours, you become the local government's "investment promotion partner."
How to secure the funding: Adopt an "overall trusteeship" or "joint venture" model to establish a JV with the local urban investment corporation. You provide the operating system, the team, and the traffic; the urban investment corporation provides the site, the capital, and airspace coordination. What you earn is not a service fee, but dividends and a share of the JV's excess performance profits.
This is not just taking orders; this is "bringing capital into the project."
However, a word of caution: urban investment funds also require strict accounting—what you bring must be projects capable of generating assets and tax revenue to make the JV viable; if you only bring a business plan, the JV becomes a burden to them.
Channel 2: Secure "Ecosystem Co-Building" Funds from OEMs (Using the Turnkey Logic)
What is the biggest pain point for OEMs right now? The aircraft are built, but customers who buy them don't know how to monetize them, preventing paper orders from converting into actual deliveries.
You hold proven SOPs, real safety records, and viable financial models. When negotiating with OEMs, do not just buy their aircraft—position yourself as their "delivery integrator."
How to secure the funding: This can be broken down into three revenue streams—a delivery integration service fee (helping customers validate their business model), an annual managed operations fee (managing the aircraft for the customer), and a revenue-sharing model on excess cash flow (taking a cut of the customer's excess profits). Taking it a step further, you can request the establishment of a "co-building fund" or "deposit" for your maiden flight project. "You sell the aircraft to the customer; I will help you validate the customer's business model." To secure orders, OEMs are willing to pay for this "turnkey solution."
Channel 3: Secure "Structured Financing" from Financial Institutions (Using the Logic of Asset Revitalization)
This is a domain completely unexplored by the vast majority of low-altitude operators, and it serves as a true asymmetric weapon.
Aircraft too expensive to buy? Financial leasing. Lack of funds to build capital-intensive vertiports? Operating leases. Taking it a step further: package "future recurring route revenues" into underlying assets, bring in financial leasing companies, and after completing a full year of positive cash flow, the next step is the path to ABS (Asset-Backed Securitization).
How to secure the funding: The essence of financial leasing is converting one-time procurement CAPEX into monthly OPEX—shifting cash flow breakeven from an "annual" to a "monthly" basis.
This is not borrowing money to buy aircraft; it is using someone else's assets to generate your own cash flow.
You use lease payments to cover costs and generate profits from the excess cash flow—earning not just the ticket arbitrage, but also the financial interest spread from "asset structuring." This is the exact path commercial real estate took when transitioning from "capital-intensive development" to "asset-light operations."
Channel 4: Generate "Consumer Cash Flow" from the Market (Using the Logic of an Eight-Legged Walk)
If capital refuses to invest in you, that is fine. As long as the numbers add up, you become your own cash-generating machine.
How to generate funding: Do not just sell flight tickets. Use ticketed experiences to drive traffic, business charters to generate cash flow, educational tours and team-building events to drive repeat purchases, and diversified derivatives (cultural products, travel photography, F&B) to generate profits. Commercial real estate is full of cautionary tales of "a booming first month followed by zero foot traffic in the second." Low-altitude operations must use long-term B2B contract profits to subsidize B2C scenarios. A single leg has an off-season, but eight legs won't break simultaneously—use the "eight-legged walk" to hedge against seasonal and policy risks.
IV. A Message for 2027: From "Contractor" to "Industry Chain Leader"
The reluctance of capital to invest in operations is fundamentally because the industry is still in its early stages: capital can only see the hard-tech barriers of "building aircraft" and has yet to understand the operational barriers of "making aircraft fly on a regular basis."
But this is precisely our opportunity.
As vertiports are built in increasing numbers, and aircraft gradually become "standardized products available for purchase," the scarcest resource in this industry will solely be the ability to "keep the hundredth batch of customers coming back."
Future low-altitude operating companies should not be mere "contractors" waiting for orders, but rather "industry chain leaders" who set standards, distribute profits, and control traffic entry points.
By then, you will not need to seek out capital. Capital will line up to ask you: "When will your operating asset portfolio open for the next round of investment?"
Getting aircraft airborne is a capability; sustaining the business is true mastery.
Operating companies that can balance their books and build robust asset portfolios will be the ultimate winners in this industry.
Let us encourage each other on this journey.
This article was originally published on the WeChat Official Account "Jingzhe: Summer by the Xiaohe River"
[Sources]
Financing statistics are compiled from publicly available information (incomplete statistics of low-altitude financing events publicly disclosed from August to mid-October 2026); the business analysis framework and viewpoints are based on the author's independent analysis.