Earlier this month, a new addition to the Hainan Airlines fleet, an Airbus A330 aircraft, arrived at Haikou Meilan International Airport and passed through the "water gate", a symbol of the highest civil aviation honor.

"Zero-Tariff" Policy Opens the Skies of the Free Trade Port

The newly imported aircraft set a record for the highest single-ticket benefit under the Hainan Free Trade Port's "Zero-Tariff" import policy for transportation vehicles and yachts. Thanks to the policy, HNA enjoyed an import tax reduction of approximately 114 million yuan (USD 16 million), significantly reducing the aircraft's purchase cost.

Hainan is accelerating the implementation of FTP policies in order to provide free and convenient transportation, continuing to improve open air rights policy effects, expanding air transport capacity, opening new and more frequent air routes between Hainan and RCEP countries and the countries along the "Belt and Road", upgrading the aviation hub capacity of Hainan's airports, and setting up a high-quality, high-standard "air bridge" connecting the FTP to the world.

The newly purchased A330 aircraft boasts a maximum range of 700 nautical miles further than its predecessor, providing the fleet with more robust range options and allowing for more flexible route planning and capacity allocation. Yu Chaojie, President of Hainan Airlines, stated that the new aircraft will be primarily deployed on approximately 15 key long-haul routes to Europe, Oceania, and the Middle East, expanding the "Air Silk Road" network. The new aircraft will also serve premium express routes and Free Trade Port express routes departing from Beijing and Haikou, providing efficient connections between international and domestic route networks.

Hainan Province's first all-cargo main base airline, Central Airlines, has added two Boeing 777 freighters to their cargo fleet. The aircraft have a range of 17,445 kilometers and can fly continuously for 18 hours, making them perfect for international cargo transport. The two intercontinental freighters have now carried a total of 1.397 billion yuan in cargo which qualified for tax reductions of 197 million yuan, greatly reducing the airline's operating costs.

Tang Lei, Vice President of Central Airlines, explained that the airline is based in Hainan and continues to expand the scale of its wide-body long-range cargo fleet, setting up an air cargo network covering the entire country and connecting Hainan with the world. Central Airlines operates more than 50 routes, creating an efficient, speedy "air corridor" facilitating global trade.

New Horizons and New Industries in the FTP

The efficient operation of the aircraft maintenance industry relies on strong support from the aircraft part supply chain. The Hainan Free Trade Port has established the first consignment warehouse for spare aircraft parts, providing domestic and international customers with more comprehensive, preferential, and convenient aircraft part support services.

Wang Haiye, chairman of the Haikou Airport Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Company, said that Hainan's one-stop aircraft maintenance base has completed more than 2,300 aircraft maintenance operations and undertaken the overhaul and livery painting of over a hundred aircraft from more than 20 international airlines to date, including Qatar Airways, Royal Philippine Airlines, and Iberia Airlines of Spain, many of whom have become repeat customers.

Meanwhile, in order to strengthen and supplement the industry chain, Hainan has welcomed the province's first airport-based economic cluster with a scale of over 100 billion yuan. In recent years, with the support of the Hainan Free Trade Port's largest airport—Meilan International Airport—as well as the FTP's policy benefits, Haikou's Jiangdong New Area has cultivated and expanded core industries such as air passenger transport, air logistics, aircraft maintenance, and aircraft leasing, driving the development of the air industry cluster and both upstream and downstream airport-based modern service industries. Now, the area is focusing on attracting investment in areas such as air passenger transport, air logistics, cross-border e-commerce, financial leasing, and aircraft maintenance, with 63 key enterprises already on board, including Central Airlines, Sino Jet, and Shenzhen Aukey E-commerce Business, and investment in the airport economic industrial cluster in excess of 100 billion yuan.

"The biggest difference between the 'Zero-Tariff' policy for transportation vehicles and yachts and the other two 'Zero-Tariff' lists lies in the high value of the imported goods. The reduction or exemption of high-value taxes is the most direct manifestation of the policy benefits," said Meng Huanyu, deputy section chief of the Comprehensive Business Section of Haikou Meilan Airport Customs. He explained that the newly expanded policy now benefits not only aircraft but also ships, yachts, and multi-purpose passenger vehicles, achieving full coverage of sea, land, and air.

As of September 2025, a total of 130 yachts with a total value of 738 million yuan (USD 103.6 million) had been imported under the ' Zero-Tariff ' policy, resulting in tax reductions of 270 million yuan (USD 38 million). The main countries of origin for these imports were France, Italy, and Germany.

In order to provide even more policy benefits, the Hainan Free Trade Port's "Zero-Tariff" policy on transportation vehicles and yachts continues to be optimized and adjusted. In 2023, 22 items were added to the "Hainan Free Trade Port 'Zero-Tariff' Transportation Vehicles and Yachts List", including highway tractors for imported semi-trailers, apron buses, all-terrain vehicles, and hybrid electric charging passenger cars with 9 seats or less.

The policy empowers industries providing air, sea, and land transportation. Feng Yunyun, Director of the Tariff Department of Haikou Customs, said that as of September 2025, the import value of transportation vehicles and yachts under the "Zero-Tariff" policy reached 9.834 billion yuan (USD 1.4 billion), with tax reductions and exemptions of 2.585 billion yuan (USD 360 million) benefiting 388 companies in Haikou, Sanya, Danzhou, Wenchang and other parts of Hainan.