The first chartered plane run by Taiwanese Far East Airlines, which returned Taiwanese business people after the Spring Festival, or Lunar Chinese New Year, landed at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai Wednesday night.
Taking off from Taipei at 6:30 p.m., the chartered plane was part of a special service offered by six Taiwanese airline companies to Taiwanese residents in China's mainland who wished to return home for the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.
The airline company was the busiest to fly between Taiwan and Shanghai during the Spring Festival period which began on Feb. 1, arranging six flights during the period. All three return flights take off from Taipei at 6:30 p.m. and arrive at Shanghai in the night with a stopover in Macao.
From Jan. 26 to 30, 1,293 Taiwanese who live and work in the Chinese mainland flew back to Taiwan by charter flights for the Chinese Lunar New Year. They are scheduled to return to Shanghai on eight charter flights between Feb. 5 and 10.
(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2003)
