Meilan airport completes expansion to double its capacity to receive travellers and holidaymakers in ‘China’s Hawaii’

Haikou Meilan International Airport, the main gateway to China’s southernmost province of Hainan, is close to wrapping up its 17.8 billion yuan (US$2.54 billion) expansion in the country’s biggest free-trade port and duty-free shopping zone.

The airfield’s capacity will be doubled to receive 45 million passengers and 600,000 tonnes of cargo every year by 2035, according to Meilan’s spokesman. An Airbus A380 operated by China Southern Airlines and a Boeing 737-800 by Hainan Airlines from Guangzhou to Haikou will land on August 1 in the expanded airfield as the test flight, the airfield’s spokesman said.

The trial flight and the completion of Meilan’s expansion would be a boon for the island province dubbed “China’s Hawaii,” increasing its capacity to receive the 90 million duty-free shoppers, holidaymakers, pensioners and business travellers – according to the local authorities’ plans – who visit the tropical island.

The airport is a key part of Hainan’s blue print to become China’s largest free-trade zone by 2020 and a free-trade port by 2025, helping to connect the world’s second-largest economy with the rest of the world especially nations along its Belt and Road Initiative.

“Hainan as a free trade port will have three focal points – international tourism, trade, and modern services, which all need transport support especially from aviation,” said Lin Zhijie of the state-run Aviation Think Tank. “Otherwise it will still be an island targeting domestic travellers.”