Airlines put on 24 Festival flights

PASSENGERS can take 24 round-trip charter flights across the Taiwan Straits during the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese celebration, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China yesterday.

Twelve airlines, six from the Chinese mainland and six from Taiwan, will operate the flights between four mainland cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen - and Taipei of Taiwan from September 18 to October 2, the CAAC said.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, whose date varies every year according to the Chinese lunar calendar, will fall on September 25 this year.

According to Chinese tradition, it is said that at the Mid-Autumn Festival the full moon is the roundest and brightest in the whole year. Chinese family members and close friends usually dine together at an open place to enjoy the bright moonlight on that night, a custom dating back about 1,500 years.

About four million people from Taiwan visit the Chinese mainland annually and an increasing number of Taiwan residents stay on the mainland for business and study.

But no direct regular flights have been available across the Taiwan Straits for more than five decades. Passengers must transfer at Hong Kong or Macau, costing more time and money.

The two sides worked out a solution of operating direct charter flights during festivals.

The first non-stop charter flights were launched during the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2005.

On June 14, 2006, the mainland-based Cross-Strait Aviation Transport Exchange Council and the Taipei Airlines Association agreed to open charter flights for other traditional festivals.