Mainland tourists greets each other
before take off in Guangzhou, capital city of the southern Guangdong
Province, July 4, 2008. The first cross-Strait weekend chartered flight
from China's mainland to Taiwan took off at 6:31 a.m. from Guangzhou early
Friday morning. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
By Xinhua Writer Gui Tao and Bai Xu
BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The first cross-Strait
weekend charter flight from China's mainland to Taiwan took off at 6:31 a.m.
from Guangzhou, capital city of the southern Guangdong Province early Friday
morning.
More than 100 mainland tourists aboard the Airbus
A330 became the first group of people on a sight-seeing tour allowed to Taiwan
amid warming ties across the Taiwan Strait. The flight has 258 passengers.
The historic flight by China Southern Airlines (CSA)
landed at Taipei Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan at 8:10 a.m. after a 1,124-km
journey.
"I have been expecting to visit Taiwan, the Treasure
Island, and my dream will finally come true today," mainland tourist Shi Anwei
told Xinhua before boarding the plane. "I was too excited to sleep last night."
Following suit was a flight from Xiamen of eastern
Fujian Province that took off at 7:16 a.m. The flight, MF881 by the Xiamen
Airlines with 203 passengers, arrived at the Songshan Airport of Taipei at 8:44
a.m.
Dim sum was laid on especially, with a local Fujian
flavor. Airhostesses, dressed in traditional Chinese clothing of qipao, staged a
self-made local dance performance during the flight.
Each passenger witnessing the historic moment
received a gift from the airline of a model plane and map of Taiwan.
At a separate ceremony in East China's Nanjing City
marking the city as the fifth new city to conduct cross-Strait charter flights,
Zheng Lizhong, mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait
(ARATS) executive vice chairman, said the start of the weekend charter flight
and beginning of the mainland tourists' visit to Taiwan "is destined to open a
new chapter in cross-Strait cultural and economic communications."
Xia Xinghua, director of the east China bureau of
Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said that since Shanghai was
chosen as the first city for cross-Strait flight operation five years ago,
"there has been a small step each year, but they have amounted to a major step
in the past five years."
"The ever more frequent and convenient flights across
the Strait are not only an improved means of transportation, they are also an
emotional and cultural bridge for the people, and have changed the way of
thinking of both sides," Xia said.
However, he noted that real direct flight hadn't been
realized yet as all of the planes flew to Taipei by way of Hong Kong airspace.
Quoting Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the great pioneer of Chinese
democratic revolution, the official said, "the real success is still in front
and we need to work harder."
The first charter flight from Nanjing started at 8:05
a.m.
In Beijing, the first weekend charter flight, CA 185,
took off at about 8:30 a.m., after a brief ceremony attended by mainland's
Taiwan affairs chief Wang Yi, director of CAAC head Li Jiaxiang, and director of
the National Tourism Administration Shao Qiwei.
"Regular flights across the Taiwan Strait would
definitely boost the civil aviation market in the Asia-Pacific region and even
the world," said Yang Guoqing, deputy head of CAAC.
Twenty minutes later, the last flight, the one from
Shanghai, departed from Pudong International Airport.
Some 760 Chinese mainland tourists from Beijing,
Shanghai, Nanjing, Xiamen and Guangzhou took the first weekend charter flights
to Taiwan on Friday, three weeks after the mainland's Association for Relations
Across the Taiwan Strait and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation met
last month.
Two mainland tourists display their
boarding checks in Guangzhou, capital city of the southern Guangdong
Province, July 4, 2008. The first cross-Strait weekend chartered flight
from China's mainland to Taiwan took off at 6:31 a.m. from Guangzhou early
Friday morning. (Xinhua Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Eleven airlines -- six from
the mainland and five from Taiwan -- will operate 144 cross-Strait return
flights next month, reflecting an agreement to expand charter flights that have
run during four traditional festivals to every weekend. Full story
Chen Yunlin (R), chairman of Chinese
mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), and
Chiang Pin-kun, chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation
(SEF), shake hands after signing the agreements on cross-Strait weekend
charted flights and mainland tourists' traveling to Taiwan, in Beijing,
China, June 13, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland and
Taiwan on Friday agreed to begin weekend chartered flights across the Taiwan
Strait, over which chartered flights have been operated only at major festivals.
Full story
BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The chairmen of the Chinese
mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) and the
Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) on Thursday convened their first
talks in nine years. Full story
BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland and Taiwan began negotiations
on weekend chartered flights here Thursday five years after the service was
adopted for major festivals. Full story
