Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are frequently aberrantly expressed and involved in many cancers, including melanoma. GAS6‐AS2 was a recently identified cancer‐related lncRNA. However, the expression, roles, and functional mechanisms of GAS6‐AS2 in melanoma remain unknown. In this study, we found that lncRNA GAS6‐AS2 is significantly elevated in melanoma tissues and cells. Elevated expression of GAS6‐AS2 is positively correlated with advanced stages and poor prognosis in melanoma. Functional assays demonstrated that ectopic expression of GAS6‐AS2 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of melanoma cells. In contrast, knockdown of GAS6‐AS2 inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of melanoma cells. Furthermore, in vivo functional assays showed that GAS6‐AS2 promotes melanoma xenograft growth. Mechanistically, we found that GAS6‐AS2 upregulates GAS6 expression, promotes GAS6 secretion, and activates AXL/AKT/ERK signals. The expression of GAS6 was positively correlated with that of GAS6‐AS2 in melanoma tissues. In addition, deficiency of GAS6 reverses the biological roles of GAS6‐AS2 overexpression in melanoma cell proliferation and apoptosis. Collectively, our data identified GAS6‐AS2 as an oncogenic lncRNA in melanoma via activation of GAS6/AXL/AKT/ERK signals. Our data suggested that GAS6‐AS2 may be a novel potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for melanoma.