On Sept. 19, a cargo aircraft carrying imported fresh fruit, including tree-ripened durian from Thailand, departed from Haikou Meilan International Airport and headed towards Wenzhou Longwan International Airport, marking the official launch of the new Haikou-Wenzhou cargo route.

This route links up with international cargo services delivering products from from Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City to Haikou, establishing an efficient and stable air cargo corridor between the Hainan Free Trade Port and the southern section of the Yangtze River Delta The direct transit of fresh fruit imported from Southeast Asia to markets in southern Zhejiang via Haikou has now become possible, further expanding the Hainan Free Trade Port's air logistics network for fresh produce.

The Haikou-Wenzhou route is operated by the Zhong Yunda Group via JD Airlines on Boeing 737-800 (B738) freighters for scheduled direct flights. With a planned frequency of two flights per week and a maximum single-trip payload of 22 tons, the service focuses on transporting time-sensitive imported fresh fruit.

Upon arrival in Haikou, cargo undergoes rapid inspection and customs clearance at the Meilan Airport’s designated imported fruit facility before immediate transshipment and distribution. This process reduces transit times and product loss while maintaining fruit quality, helping to build experience for the Hainan Free Trade Port in developing an air-based cold chain logistics model characterized by ‘international procurement, Haikou consolidation and distribution, and onward domestic delivery’.

Meilan Airport has three regularly scheduled domestic cargo routes in operation this year: Haikou-Shenzhen, Haikou-Ezhou, and the newly added Haikou-Wenzhou, establishing a domestic cargo network connecting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with the Yangtze River Economic Belt. In addition, Meilan Airport is operating a total of nine international cargo routes including Haikou–Tbilisi, Tbilisi–Haikou–Paris, Bangkok–Haikou, Ho Chi Minh City–Haikou, Haikou–Kuala Lumpur, Haikou–Singapore, Tbilisi–Tel Aviv–Haikou, Haikou–Nairobi–Johannesburg, and Tbilisi–Haikou–Milan, creating an international cargo network reaching Europe, West Asia, and Southeast Asia. As of September 18, the airport had handled a cumulative cargo and mail throughput of 168,000 tons, an increase of 8% year-on-year.

A representative of Meilan Airport stated that, thanks to the strategic advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port and the FTP’s status as a designated port of entry for fresh produce, the airport will continue to optimize both the domestic and international cargo route networks. Meilan aims to steadily enhance integrated capabilities including customs inspection, cold-chain warehousing, and rapid transshipment in order to facilitate the faster delivery of high-quality fresh produce from Southeast Asia to the consumer market in China.