Fast-track for 24-hour visa-free transit opens at Haikou Meilan Airport

(ECNS) -- A new fast-track service for international passengers eligible for 24-hour direct transit without border inspection formalities has officially opened at Haikou Meilan International Airport in south China’s Hainan Province, the airport announced on Monday.

Introduced in line with the National Immigration Administration’s policy on border-inspection exemptions for 24-hour direct transit passengers, the fast-track system combines automatic document recognition, boarding-pass scanning, and facial recognition technology. It allows eligible travelers to complete data collection and compliance checks more efficiently, significantly reducing transfer waiting times. Manual inspection lanes remain available for passengers with special needs.

As of Monday, the airport had introduced through-check-in services for a range of destinations, including Hong Kong, Macao, Auckland, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Jakarta, Dubai, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, and Melbourne.

Haikou Meilan International Airport said it will continue working with airlines and border inspection authorities to expand international interline services, allowing more transit passengers to benefit from the 24-hour direct transit exemption policy.

(By Xu Wenda, Zhang Dongfang)