Yang Lifei/Shanghai Daily news
Taiwanese people living in the city can book tickets for chartered flights to
the island province for the upcoming Spring Festival beginning next
Monday.
The air tickets will be available to local Taiwanese at 9am Monday at
25 ticket agents working China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines and their
booking agencies both in Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu
Province.
Reservation can also be made by calling 1010-5858 or 95108.
From
January 20 to February 13, the two airlines will run 16 holiday flights from the
city to Taipei and Kaohsiung. The flights will carry up to 7,824 passengers, a
64 percent increase from last year.
Considering about 500,000 Taiwanese
people work and live in Shanghai and neighboring cities, most passengers should
book other tickets and take flights that stop over in Hong Kong or
Macau.
David Tian, general manager of China Eastern Airlines's local sales
office, said the carrier has prepared several tickets to satisfy different
demands.
"Taiwan people can either buy round trip tickets or they can get a
single trip ticket on a chartered flight and use a traditional flight for their
return journey," Tian said.
A round-trip ticket in first class costs 7,000
yuan (US$843) while the price for an economy class ticket is 4,300 yuan.
"As
usual the chartered flights will receive special interior decoration to go along
with the holiday atmosphere," he added.
As part of the safety assurance
procedure, three airports - Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, Nanjing Lukou Airport
(Jiangsu Province) and Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport (Zhejiang Province) will serve
as the backup sites for the takeoff or landing for chartered flights in case
something unusual such as bad weather closes the main site - Shanghai Pudong
International Airport.
Tian wouldn't say how much money his airline expects
to earn from offering the chartered flights. He said it is too early to predict
demand for the flights.
Normally, all flights between the Chinese mainland
and Taiwan must stop over in Hong Kong or Macau.