print edition
China Daily
HK edition
business weekly
Shanghai star
reports from China
web edition news
 
   
   
 
government info economic insights campus life Shanghai today metropolitan  
   
       
  First Taiwan flight makes history
(TIAN XIUZHEN)
01/27/2003
SHANGHAI: A Taiwan charter plane made history yesterday afternoon when it touched down at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, becoming the first airliner from China's island province to arrive on the mainland in five decades.

The China Airlines jumbo jet flew into Shanghai, via Hong Kong, to pick up 243 Taiwanese passengers returning home for the Chinese Lunar New Year - the most important holiday for family reunions that begins on February 1.

About four hours after leaving Shanghai, the Boeing 747-400 reached Taipei following a 30-minute stop, again in Hong Kong.

In Shanghai, Taiwan airline executives, mainland government officials and other dignitaries popped champagne and exchanged toasts before the passengers boarded the plane.

Many of the passengers recorded the event, which was also marked by a celebratory lion dance, on their video cameras, as 180 reporters from over 70 countries looked on.

"This is a breakthrough in cross-Straits relations," Shanghai Vice-Mayor Han Zheng said at the ceremony to mark the first flights.

But he noted that the indirect charter flights still "cannot eradicate the inconvenience to Taiwan compatriots".

"Like most Taiwan investors in Shanghai, we hope that the day of direct flights will come soon."

A direct flight from Taipei to Shanghai would take only about 90 minutes compared with more than four hours for the current arrangement - with a detour to Hong Kong or Macao.

The view was echoed by some Taiwan passengers who are growing impatient with the island authorities' refusal to lift the ban on cross-Straits direct air links.

"This was an exciting moment today. But it was too small a step," said Chen Pin, a Taiwan businessman on yesterday's flight.

"Taiwanese leaders should have the courage and wisdom to take a bigger step. It's the Taiwanese who will benefit, after all," he said after arriving in Taipei.

Taiwan "legislator" John Chang of the opposition Nationalist Party, who first proposed the idea of direct charter flights, told BBC: "I will see the first flight from Taipei land in Shanghai. I would imagine it to be like the first swallow telling people that springtime is not distant," he said. "I really hope things will change for good in the right direction."

Yesterday's flight was the first of 32 indirect charter flights - through February 9 - scheduled by Taiwanese airlines.

The mainland allowed six Taiwan carriers - China Airlines, Far Eastern Air Transport Corp, EVA Airways, UNI Airways, Mandarin Airlines and TransAsia Airways - to make the flights.

TransAsia Airways also had a flight from Pudong airport yesterday.

Booming Shanghai has attracted more than 300,000 people from Taiwan who invest and live in the city and nearby areas. They used to take other airlines - like Shanghai Airlines or Dragonair - to Hong Kong or Macao where they had to stay for up to two hours before switching planes to Taiwan.

Now with the indirect charter flights in place, passengers spend two hours less on the journey and can save the trouble of changing planes.

According to Shanghai's Taiwan Affairs Office, more than 1,200 tickets have been sold to Taiwan passengers, achieving an average occupancy rate per flight of nearly 70 per cent.

Analysts said the occupancy rate would have been higher if indirect flights had been launched earlier.

The cheapest tickets on the chartered planes cost 3,700 yuan (US$447), about 20 per cent less than a regular flight.

   
       
               
         
               
   
 

| frontpage | nation | business | HK\Taiwan | snapshots | focus |
| governmentinfo | economic insights | campus life | Shanghai today | metropolitan |

   
 
 
   
 
 
  | Copyright 2000 By China Daily Hong Kong Edition. All rights reserved. |
| Email: cndyhked@chinadaily.com.cn | Fax: 25559103 | News: 25185107 | Subscription: 25185130 |
| Advertising: 25185128 | Price: HK$5 |
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲第一成年免费网站| 国产思思99re99在线观看| 丁香花在线观看免费观看图片| 日韩人妻无码一区二区三区久久99| 亚洲成a人v欧美综合天| 特级淫片aaaa**毛片| 午夜a成v人电影| 色妞www精品视频免费看| 国产在线一卡二卡| 亚洲va欧美va| 国产精品色内内在线播放| 99精品国产丝袜在线拍国语| 好紧好大好爽14p| 一级毛片特级毛片国产| 无码人妻精品一二三区免费| 久久人人爽人人爽大片aw| 最近免费中文字幕大全高清10| 亚洲国产模特在线播放| 欧美深夜福利视频| 亚洲福利一区二区| 热久久99精品这里有精品| 免费国产成人高清在线观看麻豆 | 蜜柚在线观看免费高清| 国产女王丨vk| 成人免费的性色视频| 国产欧美日韩精品丝袜高跟鞋| 24小时免费看片| 国产精品视频一区二区三区无码| 99久久国产综合精品麻豆| 在线观看免费成人| 99视频精品全国在线观看| 天堂在线免费观看mv| XX性欧美肥妇精品久久久久久| 天天在线天天看成人免费视频| xxxxx日本人| 女人被两根一起进3p在线观看| wwwxxx国产| 天天操天天干天天干| JIZZJIZZ亚洲日本少妇| 在线播放免费人成视频在线观看| 99热在线观看免费|