The first-ever indirect cross-Straits charter flights to begin in less than a fortnight have received the cold shoulder from passengers, mainly due to inconvenience caused by unnecessary stopovers.

Xie Lijun, secretary-general of Shanghai Taiwan Business Association, which offers booking services for Shanghai-based Taiwanese businessmen, revealed yesterday that the tickets for the charter flights were not selling well.

"As of Monday, only 600 tickets have been booked via telephone, compared with more than 1,600 seats available on a total of 16 planned flights," Xie said.

If no progress is made over the next few days, the secretary-general said about two in every five seats may remain empty.

Such downbeat predictions are set to badly hit the Shanghai-Taipei indirect charter flight program, under which only six Taiwanese airlines are allowed to fly Taiwanese businessmen and their families home for the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.

The charter flight services will start on January 26 and end on February 10.

The Taiwanese airlines have planned a total of 16 flights, with ticket prices ranging from 3,700 yuan (US$445) to 5,800 yuan (US$698).

According to the Shanghai Municipal Taiwan Affairs Office, most of the 30,000 Taiwan people working or living in Shanghai are expected to return to Taiwan for family reunions during Spring Festival, which falls on February 1.

However, a stopover in Hong Kong or Macao has been required by Taiwanese authorities and this has greatly destroyed potential passenger interest in indirect charter flights, the official said.

He added a large number of Shanghai-based Taiwanese business people prefer direct flights to Hong Kong or Macao to the indirect charter flights across the Straits.

"The reason is that the indirect charter flight service does not provide more convenience for passengers than existing flight routes between Shanghai and Taiwan operated by Hong Kong and Macao airlines," Xie said.

Xia Xinghua, director general of the East China Regional Bureau under the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), said: "Although we have been working hard to assist the operation of these indirect flights between Taiwan and Shanghai, the insincerity of the Taiwan authorities has caused a lot of trouble to passengers.

"The stopovers waste not only time but also energy."

Pu Zhaozhou, director of the CAAC's Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, also told China Daily that the mainland hopes for the eventual establishment of safe, convenient, economical and direct transport links between the mainland and Taiwan in the best interests of Taiwan compatriots.

"We have long been proposing cross-Straits direct transport links without any stopover, which is the real aspiration of the majority of Taiwan compatriots and conforms to their immediate interests," the official said.

The delayed arrangement of these charter flights due to the lack of co-operation from the Taiwan authorities should be blamed for the poor response of passengers to the charter flight service.

The flights were not settled until January 7 because Taipei hesitated to allow cross-Straits private talks to work out technical problems to facilitate the arrangement.

As Taiwanese people in the city usually book air tickets two months in advance of their departure, the late release of the charter flight schedules has stifled passengers' interest.

(China Daily January 15, 2003)