Direct cross-Straits flights may become a reality based on the success of charter flights during Spring Festival, Assistant General Manager of the Xiamen Airlines Zhao Dong said yesterday.

"Ticket prices from Xiamen to cities in the Taiwan Province will be cut in half if direct cross-Straits flight is achieved," he told a press conference yesterday in the coastal city of East China's Fujian Province.

Planes of the Xiamen Airlines will fly from Xiamen to Taipei and Kaohsiung respectively this morning, sources said.

This is the first time for Xiamen to act as the destination of Spring Festival chartered flights across the Taiwan Straits, sources said.

There will be 14 round-trip charter flights by the Xiamen Airlines, and four air companies of Taiwan Province will take passengers between Xiamen and cities in Taiwan.

It will take 70 minutes to fly from Xiamen to Kaohsiung, as the flight has to cross Hong Kong in charter flights during Spring Festival.

"The time would be cut to a half hour if airplanes could fly directly between Xiamen and Kaohsiung," Zhao told China Daily.

"Then we will save tens of thousands of yuan per flight and the return ticket price could be considerably cheaper than the current cost of over 2,000 yuan (US$247)," he said.

Zhao predicts that direct flights would promote the development of tourism, industry and commerce relations across the Taiwan Straits.

Zhao's only concern is if Taipei can support the traffic of direct flights across the Straits.