Regular direct flights between China
and Taiwan were
resumed July 4th, 2008,
after a politically effected lull of almost 60 years (since 1949) during which
only the occasional charter flights were allowed to make the cross-strait trip.
The inaugural flight, a China Southern Airbus A330 piloted
by chairman of the Chinese airline, made the journey from Guangzhou
to Taipei Taoyuan
International Airport
on July the 4th carrying about 250 passengers, many of them Chinese tourists,
who were greeted festively by lion dancers.
36 round-trip flights weekly are scheduled between the
Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Beijing,
Xiamen, Nanjing,
and Shanghai and Taiwan’s
Taipei. The current schedule of Friday to Monday commercial
flights is expected to be extended to weekdays in the near future. Along with the flights, up to 3000 Chinese
tourists daily will be allowed to visit Taiwan
beginning July 18th as part of the new deal to relax travel restrictions
between the two sides.
This historic show of warming relations between the two
Chinas is sparked in large part thanks to Taiwan’s
new President Ma Ying-jeou, who has pledged to reinvigorate Taiwan’s
economy and tourism sector since taking office in May. Negotiations between the two sides began in
June, with a focus on improving economic relations and easing up on travel
restrictions. The new regularly scheduled flights between China
and Taiwan are
expected to provide a large influx of Mainland tourists to the small island
nation, and with them a boost to its tourism industry’s bottom line.
Sources: Reuters, Al Jazeera, BBC
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