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. the
same 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.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2006)