HAIKOU /China/, August 25. /TASS/. The net income of airports in the southern Chinese province of Hainan amounted to 583 million yuan ($82.1 million) in the first half of the year, which is 800% higher than in the same period of 2022, the Hainan Daily newspaper reported.
The operating income of the company which operates Hainan airports increased to 3.37 billion yuan ($474.6 million) in January-June. The corresponding figure rose 48.81% year-on-year. Economic performance in the first half of the year exceeded market expectations, with profit growth reaching a new high since 2017.
Air passenger services are also set to grow in the first half of 2023 as the transportation and tourism industry recovers. The acceleration of the construction of a free trade port in Hainan is also boosting the air transportation business, the publication noted.
Hainan's airports core operating income amounted to 956 million yuan ($134.6 million) in the first six months of the year, up 47.53% from the same period last year. The production and operational performance of the nine airports controlled and managed by the company improved significantly. The exception was Haikou Meilan International Airport.
In the first half of the year, the province's airports handled a total of 88,900 flights, with passenger traffic of 13.1 million and cargo and mail volume of 75,100 tons. These figures increased year-on-year by 28%, 109.47% and 45.25% respectively. In particular, Sanya Phoenix International Airport served 68.9 thousand flights in January-June, and passenger traffic amounted to 11.2 million people, which is 63.53% and 105.27% higher than the figures of the first half of 2022, respectively.
According to the newspaper, the company expects total passenger traffic at all Hainan airports in 2023 to exceed the 20.16 million recorded in pre-pandemic 2019.