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Over Taiwan Straits, historic flights take off

(chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-04 16:17

The first group of mainland tourists of the day to arrive in Taiwan from Guangzhou, wave to reporters at the Taoyuan International Airport July 4, 2008. [Agencies]Click for more photos

In Beijing, tourism and senior government officials gave speeches before the departure of an Air China flight with 294 passengers on board.

"Today is a new start in the history of exchanges between the two sides," said Wang Yi, director of both the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, which oversees across-Straits relations. "At present, cross-Straits relations are facing a rare opportunity for development," he said.

At Taipei's Songshan airport, passengers on the first flight were greeted by a throng of local media, along with a welcoming ceremony with Chinese traditional dragon dancers.

"It's so convenient to get here. Since I was very young I always wanted to go to Alishan Mountain," said Wang Qi, a 40-year-old tourist on the Xiamen flight, referring to Taiwan's most famous mountain. "So today I feel very happy."

Enthusiasm about an expected boom in cross-Straits tourism helped to push up the tourism index by nearly 3 percent in early Friday trade in Taiwan, even as the broader market fell.

The 36 round trips per week will eliminate time-consuming Hong Kong or Macao stopovers for mainland and Taiwan visitors.

Some estimated that the direct flights are expected to hurt Hong Kong's airlines, most notably Cathay Pacific, and to help Taiwan's China Airlines and the China Eastern, though the shift in travel patterns should be gradual.

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