Hainan Airlines recently opened a route from Sanya to Xining via Xi'an, cutting hours off the travel time between between Sanya and the capital of Qinhai Province.

The outbound flight leaves Sanya at 08:00 and arrives in Xi'an at 11:10. It then leaves Xi'an at 12:00 and arrives in Xining at 13:20. The return flight leaves Xining at 14:20 and arrives in Xi'an at 15:40. The flight later leaves Xi'an at 16:30 and arrives in Sanya at 19:30.

The new service helps shorten the travel time between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the country's only tropical island: according to Jiang Ping, vice manager of Qinghai Airport. He added that it also helps boost the tourism markets in both Xining and Sanya.