On Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) named the six Chinese mainland airlines that will participate in non-stop charter flights across the Taiwan Straits during the coming Spring Festival period.

The six companies are Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Hainan Airlines.

They will run 24 flights across the straits: six of them, with Air China and Hainan Airlines, will fly from Beijing; ten China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines flights will start from Shanghai; eight, with China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, will run from Guangzhou.

A source from the CAAC said the airlines are negotiating with their Taiwan counterparts on ground services.

Chinese mainland and Taiwan civil aviation circles reached consensus on Saturday to provide non-stop flights during the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year.

According to the agreement, non-stop flights between the mainland cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Taiwan's Taipei and Kaohsiung will be in operation from January 29 to February 20 for Taiwanese business people working on the mainland and their relatives to visit home.

Six airlines from each side of the straits will operate the round-trips via Hong Kong airspace.

In 2003, Taiwanese civil airplanes were allowed to fly direct to the Chinese mainland for the first time since 1949. However, the flights had to stop over in Hong Kong or Macao, and no mainland airlines were involved.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2005)