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Passenger traffic at Hainan's Meilan International Airport up more than 6% in 2021

Last year, the airport ranked 16th in China in terms of total passenger traffic
Meilan International Airport, Haikou Zhang Mao/Hainan Daily
Meilan International Airport, Haikou
© Zhang Mao/Hainan Daily

HAIKOU /China/, Jan. 4. /TASS/. Meilan International Airport in Haikou (South Hainan Province) saw over 17.51 million passengers in 2021, which is an increase of 6.24% compared to 2020. This was reported by China News Service.

Last year, the airport ranked 16th in China in terms of total passenger traffic. The number of serviced flights increased by 7.1% in annual terms, reaching 138.9 thousand. As for the cargo flow, it increased by 10.1%, up to 148.3 thousand tons. By the end of 2021 the airport served a total of 236 routes. Of these, 226 routes are domestic and 10 are international cargo routes.

In early December last year, the airport opened a newly built second terminal. Its total area is almost 300 thousand square meters. The terminal’s design allows for passengers to spend no more than five and a half minutes walking from the passenger security check to the furthest exit to board in the departure area. The terminal is equipped with 110 check-in counters, automatic check-in and baggage drop-off counters, as well as the most advanced equipment, including facial recognition technology, which will speed up the passenger service process. All necessary transport infrastructure is in place, as well as a parking lot for 3.7 thousand places on an area of approximately 170 thousand square meters.

The Meilan International Airport expansion is an important part of the project to build a free trade port in the province, since the bulk of passenger and cargo traffic is accounted for by air transport. The second phase of the project includes the construction of new runways with a total length of 3.6 kilometers, as well as a second terminal. A total of 17.8 billion yuan (about $2.8 billion) was invested in the construction of new infrastructure.

The new infrastructure will allow to increase the total annual passenger traffic up to 45 million people and the volume of cargo up to 600 thousand tons. There are also plans to increase international passenger traffic from 8 million to 10 million people annually.

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