TAIPEI: The passenger load factor on direct cross-Straits flights averaged 93,000 travelers per week in the last two weeks, which was twice that on the charters that previously flew the routes, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) reported yesterday.

In the last nine weeks up to November 1, five Taiwan-based carriers - China Airlines (CAL), EVA Airways, TransAsia Airways, Mandarin Airlines and UNI Airways - operated a total of 1,118 regularly scheduled direct flights across the Straits, while nine mainland carriers operated 1,142 such flights, CAA statistics showed.

During the nine-week period, an average 78,000 travelers per week flew between the two sides, which was a big increase from the weekly average of 46,000 passengers recorded when direct cross-Straits air travel was via charter flights.

In the last two weeks the average of 93,000 travelers per week represented a growth rate of 102 percent from when the charters flew the cross-Straits routes.

A total 1.12 million seats were available on direct cross-Straits flights during the nine-week period, and 703,000 passengers took the flights, which translates into an average passenger load factor of 62.7 percent.

Some 192 cross-Straits flights per week are operated from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and 37 from Taipei Songshan Airport, mainly to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, both CAL and EVA Airways confirmed that they will resume cargo flights on the Taoyuan-Guangzhou route this week or next week, after a hiatus of more than 10 months because of slow business.

The two carriers are planning to operate one cargo flight per day each from Taoyuan to Guangzhou.

Since the full opening of cross-Straits air travel and shipping links last December, eight cargo flights per month have been operated on the Taoyuan-Guangzhou and Kaohsiung-Guangzhou routes, far short of the 15 that are permitted under the terms of an accord inked by the two sides in November last year.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 11/04/2009 page2)