When flight HU 7952 landed at Beijing’s Capital
International Airport on Sunday night, it marked the end of the
non-stop charter flights across the Taiwan Straits that had been
organized for Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year.
The flight, by mainland-based Hainan Airlines, was
the last of the 48 round trips that have allowed more than 10,000
Taiwan business people and their families on the mainland to return
home for holidays.
Twelve airlines from the mainland and Taiwan
offered the temporary service, which began on January 29 with an
Air China flight heading for Taipei, the first mainland civil
airliner flying to the island in 56 years.
For most of the travelers, who must normally fly an
extra four hours through a third destination such as Hong Kong, the
success of the flights has raised hopes for regular direct air
links across the Straits.
"Charter flights shorten the geographical distance
and save time. But more importantly, they bridge a psychological
gap," said Zhuang Zongyu, a Taiwanese business person. "We hope we
can have direct charters not only for holidays, but for normal
times as well."
Air China said it would donate all the revenue from
eight charter flights to organizations that strive to facilitate
cross-Straits exchanges.
Although the temporary service may help ease
tension across the Straits to some extent, experts say direct air
links are still a long way off.
"The charter flight service is only an economic
matter. It cannot bear the political task of improving
cross-Straits relations," said Zhang Guanhua, a research fellow
with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
With the Taiwanese people voicing strong hopes for
better cross-Straits ties, "the Taiwan authorities should consider
carefully how to take its next step," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2005)