Taiwan-based China Airlines charter flight CI585 took off in Taipei for Shanghai at 8:03 a.m. Friday, signaling the first charter flight across the Taiwan Straits for this year's Spring Festival, which falls on Jan. 29.
The China Airlines Airbus A333 is expected to touch down at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport at 10:55 a.m. and then leave Shanghai at 12:10 a.m. for a landing at Taipei at 3:30 p.m.
According to China Airlines, the tickets for the first flight to Shanghai and back to Taipei were all sold out.
This is the third time Spring Festival charter flights are arranged between the Straits. Compared with 2003 and 2005, the charter flights this year will not only serve Taiwan businessmen and their relatives on the mainland, but all Taiwan residents bearing valid travel documents across the Straits.
According to incomplete statistics, more than 300,000 Taiwan people working, studying or living in the Chinese mainland travel back to the island during the holiday season of the Chinese lunar New Year every year.
Industry sources expect the number of passengers who choose the charter flights this year would grow 50 percent from last year, as the number of flights is increased from 48 to 72, and the airport in Xiamen, a city that sees Taiwan across the Straits, is added to accommodate the charter flights.
According to figures provided by the Taiwan Affairs Office under the State Council, more than 4.3 million residents from Taiwan visited the mainland between January and November last year, when indirect trade across the Straits surged to US$82 billion.