Hainan eyes expanded niche in aircraft maintenance

Inside a sprawling hangar complex on Hainan province's northern edge, aircraft from Qatar, Jordan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam sit nose-to-tail awaiting maintenance — a scene that has turned the tropical Chinese island into one of Asia's fastest-growing aviation repair hubs.

Hainan's appeal begins with geography. A four-hour flight covers 21 Asian countries and regions and 47 percent of the world's population; eight hours reaches 59 countries, 67 percent of humanity and 41 percent of global GDP. That positioning, combined with free trade port policies, has made the province a magnet for overseas airlines seeking cheaper, faster servicing.

"International clients save time, worry and money by coming to Hainan," said Yang Wenbo, deputy director of the airport maintenance base at Grand China Aviation Maintenance Co, a subsidiary of HNA Technic.

"Bonded policies exempting incoming aircraft from repair deposits and keeping spare parts under bonded supervision cut clients' overall costs by 10 to 15 percent," he said. Parts can be stored in an on-site bonded warehouse in advance and settled after use, sharply shortening turnaround times.

Efficiency matters as much as price. A grounded aircraft costs hundreds of thousands of yuan a day, so customs authorities at Haikou Meilan International Airport opened a green lane letting aircraft that land in the early hours move directly into hangars once repairs are filed in advance.

The numbers reflect the shift. The Hainan Free Trade Port's maintenance base completed just two overseas repairs in its 2022 debut year, 89 in 2025, and expects to exceed 100 this year, said Long Wentao, a business director at Hainan Airport Industry Development Group. Compared with 2023, its first full operating year, overseas airframe maintenance has grown ninefold. Overseas aircraft painting has doubled, with half of all customers now foreign.

By the end of September, the base had completed more than 3,000 aircraft maintenance jobs, over 390 full-aircraft paint jobs and 78,000 component repairs, serving more than 50 airlines and leasing companies at home and abroad. Many of them are repeat customers.

Narrow-body painting usually takes five to six days and wide-body work 12 to 15 days. The wide-body work is nearly twice as fast as the industry norm. Base companies hold 25 maintenance licenses from 19 countries and regions as of September.

Engine repair marks the next frontier. Haikou Engine Service Co holds CAAC, FAA and EASA certifications, and its 150,000-pound thrust test stand — the largest in China — completed the country's first GEnx-1B engine test run in 2025. Zero-tariff equipment imports have saved about 100 million yuan ($15 million) since 2021, and customs clearance from landing to factory entry has been cut from a day to 40 minutes. The base overhauled 13 engines in 2025, plans 22 this year and targets full capacity of 60 annually by 2028-29, said general manager Niu Xuqiang.

Hainan's out-of-zone bonded repair pilot allows workshops to operate outside special customs supervision areas while retaining bonded status.

Nationally, bonded repair is drawing growing overseas interest. In 2025, Hainan ranked second in China, behind Fujian province's Xiamen, in supervised import-export value for bonded aviation repair, and the Haikou Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone ranked first among all evaluated zones.

Since island-wide special customs operations launched on Dec 18, the share of zero-tariff goods has risen from 21 to 74 percent, further expanding parts exemptions, while a revised prohibited and restricted goods list allows repair of 305 product codes. Hainan now aims to become a maintenance, training and spare-parts support base in Southeast Asia for Chinese-built commercial aircraft, and to extend into aviation asset management, parts distribution and leasing.