The first Mid-Autumn Festival charter flight from Taiwan arrived in
Shanghai on Friday, marking another step towards establishing regular
cross-Straits air links.
The charter flight of Taiwan-based Eva Airways arrived in Shanghai on
Friday afternoon with 308 passengers on board. The flight returned to
Taipei later on Friday.
The flight signalled the extension of the cross-Straits charter flight
service, which used to be restricted to the Spring
Festival.
Eva Airways has prepared moon-cakes and other traditional Mid-Autumn
Festival refreshments for passengers, said Liu Yingjun, the airline's
public relations officer.
Eva Airways had scheduled another round-trip charter flight between Taipei and Shanghai on October 8, Liu
added.
Together with Eva Airways, 11 other airlines from the mainland and
Taiwan will run a total of 24 round-trip charter flights until October 13.
The flights will run from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on the
mainland to Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan Province.
The charter services are in line with a landmark agreement reached
between Taiwan and the mainland, which also allows similar flights for
other traditional Chinese holidays including the Qingming Festival, the
Dragon Boat Festival and the Spring Festival.
The two sides exchanged non-stop charter flights for the first time in
more than 50 years during the Spring Festival in 2005.
In 2005, 5,877 passengers took Spring Festival charter flights, while
the number soared to 27,276 this year.
By Xing Zhigang (China Daily)
(Agencies)