Shanghai Daily
Aug 29,2009
THE Chinese mainland's civil aviation authority has licensed 16 airlines from the mainland and Taiwan to operate regular direct flights between the two places from the end August.
The mainland's airlines will operate regular direct flights from 25 mainland destinations to Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport from Monday, and Fuzhou and Nanchang will operate chartered flights to the island's Songshan Airport, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said yesterday.
Taiwan-based airlines will start regular direct or chartered fights from Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung to the mainland.
The flights from Taipei's Taoyuan Airport and Kaohsiung Airport to Beijing will be regularly scheduled flights. Taichung and Songshan airports will operate chartered flights to the mainland.
The CAAC says there will be 270 direct flights and 32 regular flight routes between the mainland and Taiwan weekly from September. There will also be daily flights between eight mainland cities -- Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Ningbo -- and Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport.
Regular direct flights from 16 mainland cities to Taiwan will take off on Monday. Regular flights from nine other cities will begin the following week.
The start of regular direct flights implements a series of agreements between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.