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Weekly cross-Straits charter flight plan announced

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-20 22:56

BEIJING - The Chinese mainland has come up with a detailed plan for regular cross-Straits charter flights, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced Thursday.

According to the agreement signed by the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) president, Chen Yunlin, and Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman, Chiang Pin-kung in Taipei on November 4, the two sides will launch 54 new passenger charter flights each week.

Previously, flights across the Taiwan Straits were only offered on weekends and during the country's four major traditional festivals.

Three new companies, Sichuan, Shandong and Shenzhen Airlines have been assigned by the CAAC to operate the weekly flights along with the original six companies, Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan, Xiamen and Shanghai Airlines.

The mainland will open 16 terminals in Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Dalian, Guilin, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Fuzhou, Qingdao, Changsha, Haikou, Kunming, Xi'an, Shenyang, Tianjin and Zhengzhou, for the new passenger charter flights. That's in addition to five which are already open, according to the CAAC.