Singapore-based Jetstar Asia will launch its Singapore to Haikou direct air route on December 16, 2009. This is the first cheap flight the airline has ever launched in China.

Fights will depart from Singapore each Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 13:45 and get to Haikou at 17:05. Return flight will leave Haikou at 17:45 and arrive at 21:20.

More than one million mainland tourists visited Singapore in 2008: while only 15,000 of them were from Hainan. This, states Vincent Huang, the area director of Singapore Tourism Board Southern China, indicates great market potential: especially since the traditional Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand products can no longer meet the needs of Chinese tourists. He adds that Singapore Tourism Board has built some new tourist areas that will attract more tourists.