Xiamen Customs officers conduct an inspection. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]

Xiamen's Huli district aviation maintenance cluster was approved as a national-level specialty industrial cluster for small and medium-sized enterprises in 2026, making it the first in China to focus on aviation maintenance.

The city is now home to dozens of well-known maintenance companies, including HAECO (Xiamen). The cluster provides one-stop maintenance services supported by a comprehensive industrial ecosystem, making Xiamen a major global hub and China's largest base for inbound aircraft maintenance. The city has ranked first nationwide in overseas maintenance business volume for several consecutive years.

The industry's growth has been closely tied to Xiamen's airport infrastructure. Gaoqi International Airport, one of China's first airports to open to the outside world, helped launch the sector when Taikoo established its Xiamen subsidiary in 1993. 

The airport coordinates runway slots, aprons and customs procedures to keep turnaround times short, enabling an efficient “land, repair and depart” model that has made Xiamen a preferred maintenance destination for airlines worldwide.

Since aviation maintenance operations began in 1996, more than 4,000 overseas aircraft have been serviced in the city. In the first three quarters of this year, aviation maintenance output reached 17.15 billion yuan ($2.57 billion), up 18.9 percent year-on-year.

As the new Xiang'an International Airport prepares to open, the aviation maintenance industry will not relocate entirely. Fuselage work tied to runways will move with the airport, while engine, landing gear and component services will remain in Huli. This two-zone structure will expand capacity and available space while broadening the range of aircraft served, including China's domestically manufactured passenger jets.