Peak in Mid-Autumn charter flights across the Taiwan Straits 

Source: CCTV.com

10-08-2006 09:40

Saturday saw another peak in Mid-Autumn charter flights across the Taiwan Straits, with travelers returning to work after vacations spent with their families.

In airports, special services like exclusive channels for charter-flight passengers made the journey much easier.

And most passengers voiced appreciation that non-stop trips like this have finally started outside of Chinese New Year.

"It only takes a hour and a half to go back."

"It's more convenient. Really good. But, regular flights would be better."

But most would agree that real direct flights would be much more convenient.

Zhao Dong, vice manager of Xiamen airlinessaid,"It's non-stop in the air but the detour via Hong Kong wastes time. A real direct flight would take only half an hour to cross the straits."

In Shanghai, nearly 250 passengers were taking the special planes back home.

Six airlines from each side of the straits have been running round-trip flights between Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, and Taipei and Kaohsiung since last weekend.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional time for family reunions, and this year it happened to coincide with the week-long National Day holiday.

Editor:Sun Luying