Sanya airport sees soaring international passenger traffic in H1

Sanya Phoenix International Airport experienced a significant lift in international passenger traffic in the first six months of the year.

Official figures show that from January to June, the airport handled a record of 630,000 passenger trips, a 33 percent year-on-year surge, setting a record for the period since the airport opened in 1994.

Most notably, foreigners made up 83 percent of these passengers, with a whopping 97 percent of them entering without a visa.

Yu Youzhi, head of the border inspection station of Sanya Phoenix International Airport, highlighted three key trends in the passenger flow during the period.

First, the total number of flights hit a record, with over 3,800 international flights, representing 31 percent year-on-year growth.

Second, the visa-free policy had a marked impact, with a 3.4 percentage point increase in visa-free foreign travelers compared with last year.

Third, there was a greater diversity in passenger origins. Thanks to open policies like the fifth and seventh freedom rights — the former permitting airlines to carry traffic between two foreign nations on services connected to their home state, and the latter allowing operations entirely outside the home country without any requirement to serve it — Sanya now has 36 international routes connecting to Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Russian-speaking regions.

According to the latest statistics, the main sources of visitors are Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, with most travelers coming for tourism and business.

Russian tourists enjoy their vacation time in Sanya after entering visa-free on May 17. [Photo/VCG]

To manage the rising number of passengers, the border inspection station of Sanya Phoenix International Airport is keeping all 38 lanes in the inspection hall fully operational.

It's collaborating with the airport to expand the waiting area into Terminal 3 — adding three new international boarding gates and streamlining passenger movement.

It is also pushing through digital reforms, enabling online entry card submissions for foreigners, which cuts individual processing time by an estimated 30 seconds and reduces the clearance time for entire flights by about 30 minutes.

Moreover, the border inspection team is offering personalized services. Visa-free travelers now get tailored policy advice, group travelers are processed in special areas and there are fast-track channels for those needing assistance, such as the elderly, children and pregnant passengers.

Registered crew members can clear customs in just 15 seconds. Overall, these initiatives are designed to support Sanya's goal of really ramping up its international openness.