Initial construction

Hainan Province was established in 1988. As Haikou City is seat of the new province, its development plan is put on the agenda. At that time, Haikou Dayingshan Airport could not be expanded because it was located in the city center and could not meet future needs. On the other hand, it also severely restricts the development and construction of Haikou. The construction of a new airport became a major issue of priority at the time.

In 1993, the State Council and the Central Military Commission agreed to establish a project to build Meilan Airport. In May 1996, the State Planning Commission approved the airport project budget, and construction started in November of the same year.

Passed the national inspection and acceptance in March 1999. On May 13 of the same year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued a reply for the opening of Meilan Airport, and it was officially put into operation on the 25th.

After the completion of the airport, in order to meet the increasing demand of passengers, the east/west side corridors of the T1 terminal were expanded in 2002 and 2014 respectively. The terminal building was expanded in 2003. After the expansion, the terminal area reached 102,000 square meters, with a design capacity of 9.3 million passengers per year, 135,000 tons of cargo and mail, and 50,000 flights. The international terminal was also put into use in 2014, and the aviation tourism city/transportation center and the new airport hotel were also put into use in 2018.

The airport terminal has 60,200 square metres of space, with 45 check-in counters and 11 security checkpoints. The airport is staffed by 565 employees.

A new international terminal opened on August 14, 2013. Situated at the east side of the existing terminal, this new apron increases international capacity to ten flights, from the previous capacity of three. Construction of this new terminal began on April 18, 2011.

Second phase

In order to meet the increasing passenger flow demand, the second phase of the project was launched in 2016.

The second phase expanded the airport to the north and included:

A new 3600m x 60m runway (numbered 10/28), suitable for A380 aircraft, with two parallel taxiways

A Cat III ILS (instrument landing system)

A new terminal (numbered terminal 2) approximately double the size of terminal 1

The new terminal opened on 2 December 2021. Flights HU7181 to Beijing and CZ6444 to Shenzhen took off simultaneously to mark the occasion. The international section of the new terminal opened on 7 February 2023, replacing the original international terminal to the east of terminal 1.

Third phase

In 2023, the Department of Transportation of the Hainan Provincial Government announced plans for a third phase of development for the airport, including a third terminal. Goals included continuing to build the airport's route network, building up supporting industries around the airport and increasing the airport's capacity to 40 flights per hour.

In 2025, a tender was issued to investigate the feasibility of this expansion, including:

a new southern runway (3600x45m, category E) and associated taxiways

a new Terminal 3 (450,000m2)

renovation of the existing terminal area, including Terminal 2 and the cargo apron