A government study showed that any moves to expand the use of commercial drones in the city would require coordination between departments and adjustment of regulations, Lee added.

“Safety issues include not only drones falling on people, but also the impact on waterways. Even if the fall is slowed down [by parachutes], there are some issues,” he said during a question and answer session at the Legislative Council.

“It also concerns the [coverage of mobile network] signals, because if a drone is flying far away, we must ensure it can keep receiving signals.”

He said pilot operations and cross-departmental collaboration would be necessary to ensure the low-altitude economy could grow without compromising safety.

Lee also suggested that Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Warner Cheuk Wing-hing could be in charge of coordination efforts.

Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat had called on the government to explore the use of drones to transport airline passengers from nearby mainland cities to Hong Kong airport or to operate sightseeing flights along the rugged coastlines of country parks.

Local food delivery services could also benefit because Hong Kong’s roads were “very congested and people had to wait a long time for orders to arrive”, she said.

Pointing to the mainland’s experience, Quat added that while the risk of drones colliding were lower than for vehicles, specific airspace management systems would be needed if the city wanted to scale up low-altitude flying operations.

“If we really want to develop a low-altitude economy, the most important thing is to test-run it, because we won’t know how to apply the scenarios in Hong Kong’s environment without making a try,” she said.

Fellow lawmakers Duncan Chiu and Chan Siu-hung also raised the topic in their questions during the innovation and technology-themed session, with the latter urging Lee to more precisely position Hong Kong in the country’s efforts to promote research and development of drones.

Drone shows have become more popular in recent months as the city seeks to lure visitors and boost spending. Aside from such shows, their use remains largely limited to video shooting.

Hong Kong’s regulatory framework, which came into effect in June 2022, requires a “visual line of sight” to be maintained between controllers and unmanned aerial vehicles, a requirement seen by the industry as a barrier to wider commercial use of drones.

Across the border, mainland authorities have been ramping up policy support to promote the use of drones for transporting goods and passengers. The term “low-altitude economy”, for instance, was included in Premier Li Qiang’s first work report during the “two sessions” meetings this year.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China also said in April that it would refine the mainland’s airworthiness certification system for unmanned aircraft to expedite low-altitude economic development and coordinate policy.

Lee, meanwhile, also told lawmakers the Environment and Ecology Bureau would release a hydrogen development strategy on Monday to outline policy directions and safety guidelines over the storage and refuelling of the gas for transport and power generation.