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)