LAE Ecosystem Survey Adds 16 Surveys, Reaching 67 Across 13 Countries and Listing 1,258 Entities
Why It MattersThe findings point to a low-altitude sector dominated by small uncrewed aircraft run by or for governments, while passenger eVTOL service remains confined to a single Chinese county.
The LAE Ecosystem Survey has added 16 surveys since October 2, bringing the series to 67 surveys covering 13 countries: 46 US states, nine of China's 31 provinces, Hong Kong, and one national survey each for 11 other countries. Together they list 1,258 entities, of which 758 are operating. The latest round added ten US states (Minnesota, South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, Connecticut, Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming), two Chinese provinces (Zhejiang and Jiangxi), and four countries: India, Australia, Kenya and South Africa, the series' first in Africa.
Police drones dominate the US findings. Minnesota's police used drones 9,080 times without a warrant in 2025; 135 agencies reported to the state, with $1.31 million in program costs. The survey found no drone delivery service, eVTOL operator or electric aircraft operator flying anywhere in Minnesota. Omaha's police flew more than 7,000 drone missions in nine months, according to Skydio's count. Kansas City police drones answered 492 calls in July 2026, per police board minutes. A Milwaukee audit found 201 entries on the department's flight dashboard in January 2026, 44 of them tests. Amazon lists Papillion, near Omaha, among its 11 Prime Air sites, though the FAA signed its environmental finding for the site only on September 22, 2026. The FAA approved another Amazon center in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 1, 2026, which Amazon does not list as operating. North Haven, Connecticut approved Amazon's building in May, and the state was still reviewing the flights in October.
On policy, Connecticut put vertiport licensing into law in 2024, when its legislature's research office noted the state had no vertiport. Wyoming wrote vertical takeoff aircraft into its aeronautics law in 2018 and told its Aeronautics Commission to set rules on where they may take off and land; no such rule appears in the state's administrative rules system. Minnesota ranked 27 airports for electric aircraft in a study that says it is not a funding program. A Kentucky task force reported on December 2, 2025 that the state has no strategic plan.
In China, Antwork drones carried blood from Zhejiang's provincial blood center on December 25, 2024. In Nankang, Ganzhou, SF Holding's Jiangxi drone subsidiary received a drone operating license from the CAAC's East China office on March 27, 2018, which SF calls the first in the country; by August 2024 Jiangxi reported 51 approved airspaces and 77 routes. The only passenger eVTOL in all 16 surveys flew in Wencheng county, Zhejiang, where a county company began flying EHang's pilotless two-seat EH216-S with passengers in June 2024 and made more than 300 flights by the end of that year.
Among the new countries, India's ministry told Parliament in July 2026 that The ePlane Company and Nalwa Aero had applied to DGCA to develop eVTOL aircraft and Sarla Aviation had applied for a design organization approval; none holds a certificate. India told ICAO in July 2025 it had no vertiports, and counted 38,575 registered drones on February 9, 2026. In Australia, Wing stopped delivering on January 19, 2026, according to DoorDash, and Swoop Aero's assets were sold in March 2025; Charles Darwin University delivered medicine by drone to a remote West Arnhem community on November 12, 2025.
Across the 16 places, the aircraft at work are small, uncrewed and mostly operated by or for governments, while passenger aircraft remain in memorandums, letters of intent and test programs. Every survey is free to read in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, and every entry names its source.
