Taiwan Approves Flights for First Week of Daily China Services

By Yu-huay Sun

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's government gave approval for carriers to offer 101 flights in the first week of daily passenger services between the island and China, the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Taipei said.

Five Taiwan-based carriers and nine mainland Chinese airlines will carry out the flights from Dec. 15 to Dec. 21, the CAA said on its Web site today.

Services will increase to daily from four days a week after the two sides signed agreements last month to boost the number of flights across the Taiwan Strait and establish direct shipping and postal links. The changes follow the highest-level talks between the two sides on the island in almost 60 years.

Under the deal airplanes will no longer need to detour through Hong Kong airspace. Direct transportation links have been restricted since Taiwan and China split in a civil war in 1949.

By boosting ties with China, the island's biggest trading partner, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou hopes to revive the economy. The government on Nov. 20 forecast Taiwan will enter its first recession in seven years, joining Japan, the U.K. and Singapore in reporting two consecutive quarters of shrinking gross domestic product.

To contact the reporter on the story: Yu-huay Sun in Taipei ysun7@bloomberg.net