Two Taiwan carriers yesterday flew through the mainland's airspace.

The flights by Taiwan's two largest airlines came days after the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) approved their applications to use mainland airspace on September 2. UNI Airways and Mandarin Airlines were also given approval.

EVA Airways flight B-16412, carrying 368 passengers from Taipei to Paris, became the first beneficiary of the new policy when it flew over the mainland in the early hours of Monday morning. The new route cuts flying time by about one hour. The airline estimated that the shortened Taipei-Paris flight could cut costs by US$6 million a year.

The second flight was China Airlines flight CI 245 from Taipei to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

This was not the first time the two airlines had flown through mainland airspace. During the Iraq War in 2003, both airlines were permitted to do so as an alternative to flying through the Middle East.

However, the new policy is not a makeshift arrangement, but rather will become regular practice.

According to sources with CAAC, EVA Airways has 40 flights per week that are approved to fly through mainland airspace. China Airlines was given approval for 70 flights, UNI Airways eight, and Mandarin Airlines six.

Taiwan's airlines previously avoided mainland airspace on flights to Europe and South Asia by passing either north over Russia or south over Southeast Asia.

Taipei banned its carriers from flying over the mainland in 1949 because of security concerns.

(China Daily September 6, 2005)