On April 23, Hainan Airport Group (HNA) revealed that the province had launched 92 international and regional passenger routes in 2025. Meanwhile, passenger throughput exceeded 2.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 33.64%. These routes link Hainan to 43 cities in 23 countries and to the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, boosting Hainan's role as an aviation hub connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans and covering the vast majority of RCEP and Belt and Road Initiative countries.
Passengers get ready to board. (Photo provided by Haikou Meilan International Airport) Visa-free policies applicable to the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) have expanded access to nationals of 86 countries, accelerating the recovery of the province's international aviation market and continuing to drive up inbound tourism. On December 21, 2025, Sanya Phoenix International Airport launched the Sanya-Prague route. It is a historic route on two counts: the first route established following the launch of special customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and the first seventh-freedom passenger route in the history of Chinese civil aviation to enter service. Airports across Hainan have increased flight frequencies to key source markets such as Russian-speaking regions and Southeast Asia, while also opening new fifth-freedom cargo routes like "Tbilisi⇌Haikou⇌Paris," further expanding its global air trade network. By the end of 2025, Hainan had cumulatively opened 14 fifth-freedom passenger and cargo routes and one seventh-freedom passenger route, accelerating its transformation from a domestic tourism "final destination" into a "world-class hub" connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans.