China Business

Jul 21, 2006

China welcomes ground-breaking cargo flight

SHANGHAI - The first direct cargo charter flight from Taiwan touched down in Shanghai on Thursday morning, marking a breakthrough in cross-strait relations since 1949.

A Boeing 747-400 from China Airlines, Taiwan's largest air carrier, landed in Pudong International Airport at 0:33am on Thursday after just over two hours and 10 minutes, bringing 61 tons of chip equipment to a factory established by a Taiwanese company.

"The non-stop cargo flight is a step forward in connections between Taiwan and the mainland," said Chen Luyi, vice president

with the Shanghai-based Taiwanese Businessmen Association.

A brief welcoming ceremony was held at Pudong airport. More than 30 domestic and foreign reporters gathered at the airport to record the historic moment.

Four more chartered flights will continue to ship equipment for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) to build its eight-inch chip plant in this eastern Chinese metropolis.

The last plane is scheduled to arrive in Shanghai on August 10.

The initiative is considered an active move to cut down transportation costs and save time for Taiwanese firms because cargo charter flights do not need to land in Hong Kong from now on, although they still have to fly via Hong Kong's airspace.

"The non-stop flight reduced our flying cost by one fourth," Kuoliang Tung, chief representative of China Airlines' Shanghai office, told Xinhua reporters.

"It is a good start, but we still anticipate a shorter route between the two destinations without passing Hong Kong, which will reduce the flying time to just one-and-a-half hours," said the captain of the Boeing 747.

The cargo flight was a result of the negotiations held a month ago between civil aviation associations of both sides.

Under the agreement reached on June 14, air carriers across the strait will be allowed to transport equipment used by Taiwan-funded plants in the Chinese mainland.

The agreement also approved three more chartered passenger flight programs during traditional Chinese festivals in addition to the Spring Festival flight, which was launched in 2003.

"What we are expecting is regular cargo and passenger flights, which will greatly benefit businessmen and improve peoples' communications across the strait," said Chen.

Direct links have been cut for over 50 years across the strait, while direct air links have become an urgent issue for cross-strait exchanges with the development of economic and trade relations between the two sides.

(Asia Pulse/XIC)

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