BEIJING, April 18 -- China's general aviation manufacturing industry has burgeoned in recent years, with the output rising nearly 60 percent year on year in 2023, a senior official said Thursday.

Last year, China delivered more than 3.17 million civilian drones, and the output of the general aviation manufacturing sector exceeded 51 billion yuan (about 7.18 billion U.S. dollars), Shan Zhongde, vice minister of industry and information technology, told a press conference.

According to incomplete statistics, China had over 2,300 civilian drone research and development enterprises by the end of 2023, and more than 1,000 drone models had been mass produced, he said.

The ministry will work with other authorities to accelerate the development of low-altitude economy in the future, Shan added.