On June 24th, a B738 freighter took off from Haikou Meilan International Airport on a direct flight to Singapore, marking the official opening of an important new air cargo channel from the Hainan Free Trade Port to Southeast Asia.
The Haikou-Singapore International Cargo Route is now open. Photo courtesy of Haikou Meilan Airport
The Haikou-Singapore International Cargo Route is operated three times a week by Tianjin Air Cargo on B738 freight-liners with a maximum one-way payload of 22 tons. Local Hainan fruit, cold-chain fish, and other specialty agricultural products, along with cross-border e-commerce products and general trade goods are the main focus of exports from the Haikou side, allowing Hainan's high-quality agricultural products to expand into the Southeast Asian market via this efficient air channel. In the other direction, duty-free products are the main cargo coming in to Hainan, improving the Free Trade Port’s duty-free import efficiency and continuing to improve the island’s international duty-free product supply chain.
The Haikou-Singapore International Cargo Route is now open. Photo courtesy of Haikou Meilan Airport
This new international cargo route is also in important step in extending the “Qiong E (Hainan - Ezhou) Shunda” air cargo express route, allowing goods to flow efficiently from domestic hubs in China into the international freight network. As of June 23, a total of 1,428 tons of cargo had been shipped on 96 domestic trunk line flights.
The Haikou-Singapore International Cargo Route is now open. Photo courtesy of Haikou Meilan Airport
The Haikou-Singapore International Cargo Route is now open. Photo courtesy of Haikou Meilan Airport
Since the beginning of 2026, Meilan Airport has operated a total of seven international cargo routes, including Haikou-Tbilisi, Tbilisi-Haikou-Paris, Bangkok-Haikou, Ho Chi Minh City-Haikou, Haikou-Kuala Lumpur, and Haikou-Singapore, connecting Hainan’s capital city with a large number of international cargo destinations and creating an international cargo route network radiating from Haikou to Europe, West Asia, and Southeast Asia. As of June 23rd, approximately 15,943 tons of international cargo and mail had been shipped through Meilan Airport, a year-on-year increase of 59%.