The first of 42 round-trip charter
flights across the Taiwan Straits, designed for the Qingming Festival, or
Tomb-Sweeping Day, arrived in Shanghai Pudong Airport at 1:30
p.m. March 30, 2007. Taiwan-based China Airlines has run the
unprecedented flight for the Qingming Festival over the past 57 years. In
previous years, the charter flight service had only been for Spring
Festival, traditional Chinese New Year. The service has now been expanded
to other traditional festival holidays, including Qingming Festival,
Dragon Boat Festival and Mid Autumn Festival. [Xinhua]  |
An airplane, carrying about 350 Taiwan compatriots for the upcoming Qingming
Festival, or the Tomb-Sweeping Day, landed in Shanghai Pudong Airport on Friday
afternoon.
The China News Service reports that Taiwan's premier airline, China Airlines,
conducted their first cross-Straits charter flights for Tomb-Sweeping Day, which
falls on April 5 this year. It is another step towards the availability of
regular round trip flights between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan during such
festivals.
Last June, aviation organizations from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan agreed
to open charter flights for a greater number of traditional festivals, in
addition to the Spring Festival. The first Mid-Autumn Festival charter flight
across the Taiwan Straits took place last September.
Qingming Festival is an occasion for Chinese people to pay homage to their
ancestors and deceased loved ones.
