The first non-stop chartered cargo flight over the Taiwan Straits touched down at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport at 0:33 this morning after a flight of just over two hours and 10 minutes.

Flight CI 6901 of Taiwan-based China Airlines (TCA), their largest air carrier, took off from Taoyuan Airport in Taipei at 10 PM Wednesday carrying Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company equipment. The Boeing 747-400 will return to Taiwan empty.

"The non-stop cargo flight is a step forward in connections between Taiwan and the mainland," said Chen Luyi, vice president of the Shanghai-based Taiwanese Businessmen Association.

A brief welcoming ceremony was held at the Pudong airport and a banner read, "We warmly welcome the first cargo flight of China Airlines". More than 30 domestic and foreign reporters were gathered at the airport to record the historical moment.

Four more chartered flights will continue to ship equipment for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd for construction of its '8-inch chip plant' in this eastern Chinese metropolis. The last plane is scheduled to arrive here on August 10.

The initiative is considered an active move to cut down transportation costs and save time for Taiwanese firms because previously all cargo charter flights had to land in Hong Kong. However, they still require to fly through Hong Kong airspace.

"The non-stop flight has reduced our flying costs by a quarter," Kuoliang Tung, chief representative of China Airlines' Shanghai office, told Xinhua reporters after the touchdown.

"It's 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 Straits will be allowed to transport equipment used by Taiwan-funded plants on the Chinese mainland.

The agreement also approved three further chartered passenger flight programs during traditional Chinese festivals in addition to the Spring Festival flight which started in 2003.

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

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

The mainland has pushed forward the "three direct links" in mail, transport and trade across the Straits and called on the Taiwan authorities to give up political concerns over the issue.

"It's in the fundamental interests of Chinese compatriots living on the two banks to develop cross-straits economic ties and realize direct links in mail, trade and transport services as early as possible, " Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told a Taiwan delegation studying economic and trade issues on the mainland Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2006 )