Chinese engineers have refitted a manned utility aircraft into the world's first large transport drone for one of the nation's largest express delivery companies, according to a leading designer involved in the project.

A PAC P-750 XSTOL turboprop aircraft, built by the New Zealand plane manufacturer Pacific Aerospace, has been modified into an unmanned aircraft and has recently begun conducting taxiing tests, said Chen Xiang, director of unmanned aircraft vehicle guidance at Aviation Industry Corp of China's Xi'an Flight Automatic Control Research Institute.

"The plane will make its maiden flight in early October if preparation work proceeds well. Once its flight tests are finished, it will become the world's first large transport drone that is ready for commercial operations," he told China Daily in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of a civilian-military integration development expo, a weeklong event that concludes on Friday.