Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200806/20080613/article_363100.htm
Mainland, Taiwan ink deal to boost flights, tourism
Created: 2008-6-13 16:19:38
Author:Lydia Chen
THE Chinese mainland and Taiwan signed a landmark deal today to start regular weekend flights across the Taiwan Strait and gave approval for mainland travelers to visit the island.
The deal, the latest progress in the first official talks between the mainland and Taiwan since 1999, includes 36 return flights each week on every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The number will increase according to demand.
The weekend flights will start from July 4. Mainland and Taiwan airlines will each operate 18 flights, according to the deal signed by Chen Yunlin, chairman of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), and Chiang Pin-kun, chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in Beijing this morning.
Shanghai is among the first five cities listed for flights on the mainland side along with Beijing, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Nanjing.
Cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Dalian, Guilin and Shenzhen may get Taiwan flights in the future.
On the Taiwan side, the eight terminals include Taoyuan County, Siao-gang District in Kaohsiung City, Cingcyuangang Airport in Taichung County, Taipei Songshan Airport, Makung City in Penghu County, Hualien, Kinmen and Taitung.
Return flights between Shanghai and Taiwan will be limited to nine trips each week while return flights from the mainland to Cingcyuangang Airport in Taichung will be limited to six trips per week.
Airlines will be allowed to set up offices on the other side within six months.
The two sides promised to start talks on chartered cargo flights three months after the operation of these flights and will try to settle the issue of direct flights between the mainland and the island as soon as possible, according to the minutes of today's discussion.
Apart from special holidays, there have been no regular direct flights across the Taiwan Strait since 1949. Passengers and cargo between the two sides currently must first pass through a third port such as Hong Kong or Macau.
Today's deal also allows millions of mainland travelers to visit Taiwan, which may boost the island's economy. The island forecast its economic growth at 4.8 percent this year.
The first mainland tour groups to Taiwan from 13 provinces will start arriving from July 18.
The mainland provinces are Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Chongqing, Yunnan and Shaanxi.
As many as 3,000 mainland tourists could visit the island per day and the number of travelers in each group is supposed to range between 10 and 40. Their stay in Taiwan should be 10 days at most, the deal said.
The deal, signed at Beijing's Diaoyutai Guesthouse, also gave a strong boost to airlines that may benefit from the air links.
Shares in Xiamen International Airport, which is located in Fujian Province across from Taiwan, jumped 1.18 percent to 18.08 yuan today in Shanghai despite the Shanghai Composite Index dropping 3 percent to close at a 15-month low of 2,868.80 at 3pm today.
Under the backdrop of warming cross-strait relations, China Southern Airlines, the biggest carrier on the mainland by fleet size, said it will sign a strategic cooperation contract with China Airlines, Taiwan's largest carrier, in Guangzhou on June 23.
The contract will focus on the weekend chartered flights across the Strait, China Southern said.
The deal, the latest progress in the first official talks between the mainland and Taiwan since 1999, includes 36 return flights each week on every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The number will increase according to demand.
The weekend flights will start from July 4. Mainland and Taiwan airlines will each operate 18 flights, according to the deal signed by Chen Yunlin, chairman of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), and Chiang Pin-kun, chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in Beijing this morning.
Shanghai is among the first five cities listed for flights on the mainland side along with Beijing, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Nanjing.
Cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Dalian, Guilin and Shenzhen may get Taiwan flights in the future.
On the Taiwan side, the eight terminals include Taoyuan County, Siao-gang District in Kaohsiung City, Cingcyuangang Airport in Taichung County, Taipei Songshan Airport, Makung City in Penghu County, Hualien, Kinmen and Taitung.
Return flights between Shanghai and Taiwan will be limited to nine trips each week while return flights from the mainland to Cingcyuangang Airport in Taichung will be limited to six trips per week.
Airlines will be allowed to set up offices on the other side within six months.
The two sides promised to start talks on chartered cargo flights three months after the operation of these flights and will try to settle the issue of direct flights between the mainland and the island as soon as possible, according to the minutes of today's discussion.
Apart from special holidays, there have been no regular direct flights across the Taiwan Strait since 1949. Passengers and cargo between the two sides currently must first pass through a third port such as Hong Kong or Macau.
Today's deal also allows millions of mainland travelers to visit Taiwan, which may boost the island's economy. The island forecast its economic growth at 4.8 percent this year.
The first mainland tour groups to Taiwan from 13 provinces will start arriving from July 18.
The mainland provinces are Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Chongqing, Yunnan and Shaanxi.
As many as 3,000 mainland tourists could visit the island per day and the number of travelers in each group is supposed to range between 10 and 40. Their stay in Taiwan should be 10 days at most, the deal said.
The deal, signed at Beijing's Diaoyutai Guesthouse, also gave a strong boost to airlines that may benefit from the air links.
Shares in Xiamen International Airport, which is located in Fujian Province across from Taiwan, jumped 1.18 percent to 18.08 yuan today in Shanghai despite the Shanghai Composite Index dropping 3 percent to close at a 15-month low of 2,868.80 at 3pm today.
Under the backdrop of warming cross-strait relations, China Southern Airlines, the biggest carrier on the mainland by fleet size, said it will sign a strategic cooperation contract with China Airlines, Taiwan's largest carrier, in Guangzhou on June 23.
The contract will focus on the weekend chartered flights across the Strait, China Southern said.
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