Fujian-based Xiamen Airlines has won approval to fly through
Hong Kong's air traffic control area for its planned direct charter
flights across the Taiwan Straits.
Mainland airlines are currently negotiating with their Taiwanese
counterparts in response to the government's latest push for direct
charter flights across the straits during the upcoming lunar new
year, China's Spring Festival.
The approval from Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department means
Xiamen Airlines has resolved any technical and administrative
issues, and can make the flights as long as the Taiwanese
authorities allow planes to land on the island, according to a
company spokesman.
Beijing has been urging Taipei to hold talks about direct and
two-way flights for the 2005 Spring Festival, which starts on
February 9.
Taiwan's TransAsia Airways would handle aircraft on the ground
in Taiwan. The general managers of the two companies are still
discussing details of those arrangements, said Huang Shaohui, a
Xiamen Airlines official.
The airline has been negotiating charter flights with its
Taiwanese counterpart for several years, Huang said. However, the
Taiwan authorities have not responded.
Seventy-minute flights would make detours through Guangzhou and
Hong Kong air traffic areas for the 600-kilometer journey, then
land at Taipei or Kaohsiung.
Tickets would cost about 1,600 yuan (US$193), the same as the
price of the flight from Xiamen to Hong Kong.
"We are very happy to see that Beijing has been actively pushing
the direct charter flights across the straits, which will make it
easier for Taiwanese business people in the mainland," said Wu
Jinzhong, president of Xiamen Taiwanese Enterprises
Association.
"Taiwanese people attach a lot of importance to the Spring
Festival," he said. "We really hope that the Taiwan authorities
take into consideration the interests of mainland-based Taiwanese
business people and make favorable decisions."
(China Daily January 7, 2005)