Organizations from both sides of the Taiwan Strait agreed to solve the flight shortage problem after increasing demand from travelers, said State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman, Li Weyi here on Wednesday.

The mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Taiwan-based Strait Exchange Foundation will address the problem in upcoming talks, said Li.

Currently, travelers can only use a cross-Straits weekend charter service to fly back and forth. Those flights started July 4, 2007 under an agreement signed by the two organizations.

Before that, mainland and Taiwan planes were not allowed to land on each other's ground except during certain festivals.

The new weekend service is so popular that cross-Straits airlines complained weekend flights were always full. Li said the average trip load was 90 percent.

"We wish for more flights and destinations, as well as weekday flights to provide more choices for passengers," said Nieh Kuo-wei, vice general manager of Taiwan-based EVA Air.

Shanghai Airlines agreed.

"Many Taiwan people can only take one-way weekend flights due to their personal schedules and it led to some market loss for airlines from both sides," said senior airline official Cheng Jun.

Current flights aren't only full, they can also be inconvenient admitted Li. Flights detour through Hong Kong airspace adding extra travel time.

The mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Taiwan-based Strait Exchange Foundation will meet in October.

The two groups will also discuss cross-Straits direct ocean shipping.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2008)