Taiwan, China agree on cross-strait holiday flights

This article was written by Shih Ying-ying and published by the Taiwan Journal on November 25, 2005. It reports that Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council and China's Taiwan Affairs Office recently announced that they had agreed to allow special holiday cross-strait charter flights to operate between January 20 and February 13 in 2006, during the Chinese New Year.

Under this scheme, all Taiwanese residents will be eligible to travel via the holiday charter flights with proper documentation such as entry and exit visas. The number of charter flights will be 72 during the 25-day period, with Taiwan and China each operating 36 flights. The designations in China will include Xiamen, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

The charter flights are scheduled to run from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport, through Hong Kong air space, and then to the four destinations in China.