(ECNS) -- A new scheduled international passenger route connecting Shymkent (Kazakhstan, Central Asia), Sanya (south China's Hainan Province) and Singapore was launched on Tuesday, with the inaugural flight, operated by SCAT Airlines, landing at Sanya Phoenix International Airport.
The service operates under fifth-freedom rights, which allow an airline to pick up and drop off passengers in a third country along a route that begins or ends in its home country — in this case, making Sanya a transit hub linking Central Asia and Southeast Asia. It adds another link to the Hainan Free Trade Port's international air network.
The route is served by Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with flights twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. From late October, when the winter-spring schedule begins, flights will operate on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Zhang Hao, deputy director of the Sanya Tourism Board (STB), said the route is Sanya's fourth fifth-freedom service. It connects Shymkent, Kazakhstan's third-largest city, with Singapore, a Southeast Asian gateway, via Sanya. All three Kazakh cities with populations of more than 1 million — Almaty, Astana and Shymkent — now have direct air links to Sanya.
Dong Zhen, general manager of Hainan Shengyuan International Travel Agency, said bookings for the route's October flights have exceeded 85% of seat capacity, reflecting Sanya's appeal to travelers from Central Asia and Southeast Asia.
In the first nine months of this year, Sanya recorded a roughly 45% year-on-year increase in the number of inbound tourists staying overnight, with total inbound tourism spending up about 67%. Inbound arrivals have already surpassed the total for 2025 and are expected to exceed 1.5 million this year.
(By Tang Yuxian)
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