REGIONAL> Development
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REGIONAL> Development
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Cross-Straits weekend charter flights take off
By SONG WENWEI (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-04 17:42
 NANJING: The first group of 100 tourists from Jiangsu Province boarded MU5001 of China Eastern Airlines at Lukou International Airport at 8 a.m. yesterday, bound for Songshan Airport in Taipei. Joining Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen, Nanjing became one of the first cities to operate weekend cross-Strait charter flights. “The operation of charter flights benefits us greatly by reducing the travel time between Nanjing and Taiwan,” said Chen Wuxiong, chairman of the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Nanjing. Taiwan business people in Nanjing used to fly from Shanghai to Taiwan, which took about six to seven hours, including the stopover in Hong Kong or Macao. Now they can arrive in three hours. “I believe more Taiwan business people will come and invest in Nanjing with the convenience of traveling between the two places,” Chen said. Nanjing was added to the list of weekend cross-Strait charter flights because of its history and current economic ties with Taiwan, said Zhao Zaifei, director of Nanjing Taiwan Affairs Office. Since the first Taiwan investment in Nanjing in 1988, more than 2,500 Taiwan enterprises have come to develop in the city, with a total investment of about $5.59 billion, one sixth of the total overseas investment in the city. “The weekend charter flights will surely strengthen the tie between Nanjing and Taiwan,” said Gong Zhirong, general manager of Cathay Life Insurance, who took the plane back to Taiwan. He hopes that regular direct flights between the mainland and Taiwan will be scheduled in the near future so that people can travel to and fro more frequently. The direct air mileage is less than 1,000 km between Nanjing and Taipei. So when direct flights begin, the flying time between the two cities can be reduced to about one hour. As Jiangsu is one of the main tourism destinations for Taiwan residents, the weekend charter flights will be a stimulus to the development of tourism in the province. “Nanjing receives over 200,000 Taiwan tourists every year and we are expecting to see a large increase of Taiwan tourists in the future with the charter flights between Nanjing and Taiwan,” said Jin Weidong, deputy director of the Nanjing Tourism Bureau. He also said that the entry of mainland tourists into Taiwan will boost the island’s economy, with tourism-related industries now becoming popular areas of investment in Taiwan. Between July 4 and 31, a passenger aircraft will leave Nanjing at 9 a.m. every Friday and arrive in Taipei at noon. The returning flight will take off at 1 p.m. and arrive in Nanjing at 4 p.m. the same day. To facilitate Taiwan passengers, the eight air hostesses on board MU5001 speak fluent Minnan dialect. China Eastern Airlines will use A321 to fly the route between Nanjing and Taipei in the future.
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