Airport Group accelerates moves to make Hainan a regional aviation hub

Hainan Airport Group is ramping up efforts to expand its route network, resuming and opening new domestic and international air routes in Hainan, China's southernmost province, authorities said. Its ultimate goal is to transform the province into a new regional airport hub that caters to countries and regions in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

With the optimization of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures, the Hainan Airport Group has made greater strides in developing and restoring the aviation market, while optimizing route structure and network layout to support Hainan's "dual circulation "economy. In addition, the optimization has served to promote the trade, logistics, and cultural tourism industries in the Hainan Free Trade Port, said officials with the airport group.

Thanks to these efforts, the Hainan aviation tourism market has significantly rebounded and all operational and production data has been steadily improving.

In the first quarter of this year, 11 airports under the airport group completed a total of 97,000 flight departures and landings, with a passenger throughput of 14.29 million and a cargo and mail throughput of 85,000 metric tons. The figures show that Hainan's airport business has basically recovered to the same level as 2019.

To date, the three major airports on Hainan Island — Haikou Meilan International Airport, Sanya Phoenix International Airport and Qionghai Boao Airport — have resumed 336 domestic routes, connecting with 230 major cities across the country and setting multiple records in main business operations.

The airport group's administration said it is also expanding its "circle of international friends" by resuming and opening overseas passenger and cargo transportation routes.

By 2019, Hainan had opened 103 overseas air routes, reaching 62 cities in more than 20 countries and regions across Europe, North America and Asia.

It said that Hainan has resumed five international and regional passenger routes departing from Haikou, capital of Hainan, to Hong Kong and Macao special regions, as well as Bangkok, Singapore and Phnom Penh. Six overseas cargo routes have been resumed or newly opened, providing strong and timely support to the supply of offshore duty-free goods to the tropical island, which is building an international tourism consumption destination.

Hainan Holdings has also accelerated airport construction to lay a solid foundation for the local airport industry. The second-phase Meilan airport was put into operation in December 2021, marking the beginning of a new era for the airport to run with "dual terminals and dual runways".

The revision of master plans for the Boao and Sanya airports have been approved by the national aviation authorities. Meanwhile, construction of expansion projects is underway at the airports and site selection for the airport projects in Danzhou and Dongfang is in progress.

An airport framework is emerging on the tropical island, according to officials with the air group.

Officials with the airport group said as a practical action to support the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, Hainan Airport Group is making active efforts in top-level planning and design for airports to accelerate development of a new regional airport hub catering to the Pacific and Indian oceans.

The airport group has also made solid progress in building landmark and fundamental projects for Hainan FTP's independent customs operations by 2025. Construction of the preparatory projects is dubbed as the "No 1 Project" for the construction of Hainan FTP.

Five such projects are being built at the group's three major airports on the island.

On May 31, 2022, the Meilan airport commenced construction of Hainan FTP's first airport facility project for customs clearance operations. On Jan 6, the main structure of a project at Qionghai Boao Airport was successfully capped, becoming the first capped preparatory project in Hainan FTP.

The airport group is currently in a leading position with overall construction progress of the first group of projects launched for independent customs operations on Hainan Island.