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Cross-Straits chartered flights resume
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-02-03 21:37
A China Eastern Airlines passenger plane took off from the Pudong Airport in
Shanghai at 2:06 p.m. on Friday, marking the resumption of cross-Straits direct
chartered flights after the Spring Festival holiday in Taiwan.
The passenger plane, with 244 people aboard, was heading for Taipei and will
return to Shanghai Pudong Airport at 9 p.m. Friday,carrying 282 passengers.
According to Shanghai's civil aviation administration, Saturday will witness
an air traffic peak in Shanghai, with six direct chartered flights shuttling
between the city and Taiwan.
Direct chartered flights between Guangzhou, capital of South China's
Guangdong Province, and Taiwan also resumed Friday.
A Boeing 737 plane of the Taiwan-based Maindrain Airlines departed Taipei at
9 a.m. on Friday and landed at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 11 a.m.
the same day. The return flight left Guangzhou at 12:10p.m. and arrived at
Taipei at 2:00 p.m. thesame day. The occupation rates on the two flights reached
80.25 percent and 96.91 percent respectively.
China Southern Airlines also operated two flights between Guangzhou and
Taipei on Friday. The two flights registered an occupation rate of 44.45 percent
and 73.8 percent respectively.
Friday is the first day after the Spring Festival holiday in Taiwan but
people on the mainland will end their Lunar New Year holiday on Saturday.
According to an agreement reached between civil aviation associations of both
sides, the direct chartered flights are scheduled to run from Jan. 20 through to
Feb. 13 this year. Six mainland airlines and six Taiwan-based airlines are
approved to fly the charter flights.
In all, there will be 72 round-trip flights, compared with 48 in 2005. For
the first time, the chartered flights this year will serve all Taiwan residents
bearing valid travel documents across the Straits, including tourists and
students. Previously, they served mainly businessmen.
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