Delair expands its presence in China, opens its first office in Beijing

September 18, Delair, a leading global supplier of commercial drone solutions, announced the opening of its first office in China. Based in Beijing, Delair will use it as a base to increase its presence in the rapidly expanding Chinese market and expand its network of local distributors. The office opening coincides with participation of Michaël de Lagarde, President and co-founder of Delair, at World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin. The only French company named “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum this year, Delair is also the only supplier of drone solutions included in the 2018 selection.

Delair’s strategy is based on providing enterprises with new tools for using aerial-collected data to improve their productivity, efficiency and safety. The use of drones has matured in China and today enterprises are adopting large scale drone solutions to provide actionable business insights. At the end of 2017, China issued new guidelines to ease the adoption and use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and the drone industry is forecasted to grow 40 percent a year on average, to reach $ 9.1 billion by 2020 (Xinhua).

Many industries are starting to embrace drone technology in China, including: agriculture, construction, energy and transportation infrastructure. The landscape of agricultural development, urban expansion and infrastructure build out are changing so rapidly in China that both the private and public sectors need new, cost-effective and highly accurate tools to update aerial imagery for surveying, mapping and planning.

Delair well positioned for success in China

Recognized as one of the world’s pioneers of professional drone solutions, especially for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, Delair will leverage its unique advantages across its entire offering – fixed-wing UAVs, comprehensive analytics platform and data sharing capabilities, as well specialized consulting and support services – to increase its presence in the Chinese market.

The company already relies on a network of local distributors in China with 20 authorized resellers and service centers providing expertise and understanding of the local market. The Delair UX11, the latest generation drone from Delair, was successfully launched in Jinan, China in May 2018. It has the longest range and coverage area and resolution in its class.

“China is an extremely fast growing and dynamic market with a wide spectrum of challenges and needs that are well suited to our drone solutions,” said Michaël de Lagarde, President and co-founder of Delair. “Delair’s drone platforms, both hardware and software, are recognized as among the best systems in the world for their range, performance, usability and their ability to fly BVLOS operations. By establishing this tangible presence in the market, we are committed to meeting the growing demand from Chinese companies who want to integrate aerial intelligence into their businesses as they evolve their digital transformations.”

The Beijing office is the fourth office for Delair outside of its native France, joining, Ghent, Belgium; Los Angeles and Singapore. Its solutions are now sold in more than 70 countries via a network of distributors. Since 2016, Delair’s strategy has enabled it to record a growth in international sales of 80+ percent. The company has also signed a partnership with Intel Corporation to integrate its analytics software with the Intel Insight platform, a key component in the electronic giant’s drone strategy, with a goal of building a complete cloud-based solution for asset information modeling.