Haikou Meilan International Airport is expected to handle over 26.85 million passengers and set a new record for cargo and mail throughput in 2025.
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In 2025, the Hainan Free Trade Port officially launched its island-wide customs closure, entering a new starting point and a new stage of reform and opening up. Under this favorable development opportunity, Haikou Meilan International Airport (hereinafter referred to as Meilan Airport), under Hainan Holdings, delivered an annual report card emphasizing both quality and efficiency: it completed over 184,200 transport flights, handled over 26.85 million passengers, and handled over 215,700 tons of cargo and mail throughout the year. Production and operation data remained at a high level, with international and regional passenger throughput exceeding 1.52 million for the first time, and cargo and mail throughput both reaching record highs since its opening, injecting strong aviation momentum into Hainan's high-level opening up.
**Comprehensive Route Network Connecting Domestic and International Markets: Weaving a Dense Global Air Network**
In 2025, Meilan Airport, based on its strategic position as a "domestic and international dual circulation" hub, continued to deepen its route network layout, achieving a dual approach of "deep coverage" of the domestic market and "breadth expansion" of the international market, significantly improving air accessibility and hub radiation capacity.
** In the domestic market, Meilan Airport has achieved full coverage of provincial capitals in mainland China, and added 11 new domestic destinations year-on-year, including Yiwu, Meizhou, Qingyang, Xingtai, Xiangxi, Aksu, Yili, Xinzhou, Yan'an, Jiayuguan, and Bozhou. Among them, Aksu, Yili, Jiayuguan, and Bozhou are new destinations that Haikou has opened to for the first time, further improving the convenience of routes to Xinjiang.
Photo courtesy of Meilan Airport
In the international market, Meilan Airport has successively launched routes to Tokyo, Osaka, London, Jakarta, Jeddah, Penang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, and other destinations. It has also increased the frequency of direct flights between Haikou and RCEP countries such as Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Melbourne, and Sydney. Throughout the year, it operated a total of 47 international and regional passenger routes, connecting 28 overseas cities. These destinations cover Hong Kong and Macau, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and North America, continuously strengthening its role as a regional aviation hub and expanding its reach to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, making travel to and from the Hainan Free Trade Port more free and convenient for passengers.
The customs closure policy empowers and enhances efficiency, creating a new high ground for air cargo development.
The passenger market is stable and improving, while the cargo market continues to heat up. In 2025, Meilan Airport operated a total of eight international cargo routes, three of which were fifth freedom routes, connecting nine international cargo destinations: Tbilisi, Paris, Milan, Rome, Cyprus, Tel Aviv, Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Rzeszów. The "Haikou-Nairobi-Johannesburg" route was the first direct international cargo route from Hainan Free Trade Port to Africa. Meanwhile, Meilan Airport's designated supervision sites for imported fruits and imported aquatic animals for consumption were approved and put into operation. Driven by the increasingly comprehensive international cargo route network and the qualification of specialized supervision sites, Meilan Airport handled over 28,000 tons of international cargo and mail throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 6%, further facilitating the "Hainan products going global" and "global shopping" channels.
Furthermore, on December 18, 2025, the first day of the island's full customs closure, Meilan Airport welcomed its first batch of preferential cargo clearance. The new regulatory model of "open at the first line, controlled at the second line" was officially implemented at Meilan Airport. Without changing the airport's original cargo handling processes, cargo market collaboration processes, and cargo information data logic, Meilan Airport integrated customs identification information into three stages-cargo receipt, arrival information into cargo security inspection, and inspection and release information into cargo sorting-through integrated mobile devices (PDAs). This transformed the five paper documents that previously required offline documentation into fully electronic documents, significantly shortening processing time and improving customs clearance efficiency by approximately 30%.
Service Brand Upgrade, Showcasing Five-Star Sincere Service
On October 15, 2025, Meilan Airport officially launched the "Beautiful Meilan Journey" service brand, aiming to create a new air travel experience for passengers that is "innovative and efficient, convenient and accessible, warm and thoughtful, and enjoyable and comfortable." To make travel more convenient for passengers, Meilan Airport, in conjunction with Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines, has shortened the check-in deadline for passengers without checked baggage from 35 minutes to 30 minutes before scheduled departure, increasing check-in time by 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, Meilan Airport has reduced the minimum connecting time (MCT) to "60 minutes for international to international through connections, 90 minutes for non-through connections; and 90 minutes for international to domestic transfers within the same terminal." Passengers choosing Haikou as their international transit point, and passengers whose registered residence is not in Haikou, can also enjoy exclusive benefits such as complimentary meals and accommodation when taking outbound flights. These transit benefits have been provided to over 100,000 passengers throughout the year.
Photo courtesy of Meilan Airport
For passengers with special needs, Meilan Airport offers a full range of exclusive services, including escorted check-in, priority security screening, and wheelchair assistance, serving over 18,000 such passengers throughout the year. For families, Meilan Airport has created four children's play areas and six comfortable mother-and-baby rooms in both terminals, providing a warm and comfortable environment for mothers and children and enhancing the parent-child experience. For early bird passengers, Meilan Airport has set up a 24-hour public reading space, two free overnight passenger rest areas, and ten specially designed passenger seating areas in Terminal 2, further enhancing the passenger's relaxation experience.
For passengers, a pleasant journey often begins with a comfortable waiting experience. To enrich passengers' waiting time, Meilan Airport and Singapore Changi Airport International Management Investment Co., Ltd. jointly established Sino-Singapore (Hainan) Airport Commercial Management Co., Ltd., introducing world-class commercial operation concepts to comprehensively upgrade the airport's three major areas: tax-paid, duty-free, and the terminal complex. By 2025, a total of 48 new shops had opened, introducing diverse well-known brands including Wenxing Tea Restaurant, Burger King, Shangnantang, Bawangchaji, and Xixi. It successfully attracted 10 brands making their Hainan Free Trade Port debut, one Michelin Bib Gourmand recommended brand, and two time-honored Chinese brands, expanding new consumption spaces for travelers.
Riding this momentum, Hainan Free Trade Port has embarked on a new journey. Meilan Airport will continue to strictly adhere to safety standards, continuously optimize its route network layout, enhance its service brand image, and focus on building a regional aviation hub facing the Pacific and Indian Oceans, adding new impetus to the construction of a world-influential free trade port with Chinese characteristics through high-quality development of civil aviation.