Taiwan, China to hold talks on direct flight increases next week

Taiwan hopes to reach a consensus with China next week on guidelines allowing for increases in the number of direct flights across the Taiwan Strait instead of relying on a hard cap, a Taiwanese official said in Taipei Friday.

Taiwan and China are scheduled to hold talks on cross-strait flights in Taiyuan, the capital of China’s Shanxi Province, July9-13, according to Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA).

CAA director-General Yin Chen-pong said that because Taiwan and China hold talks on increasing flights almost every six months, he hoped the two sides could agree this time on a set of rules governing such increases in the future, instead of simply raising the cap again.

A maximum of 558 weekly passenger flights are currently allowed between Taiwan and China, with airlines from the two countries each operating half of them.

There are also limits on the number of flights operated by Taiwanese carriers to six popular Chinese destinations – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen and Kunming.

The Taiwanese delegation led by CAA deputy director-General Lee Wan-li will depart for Taiyuan Saturday and return to Taiwan on July 14 after the talks, the CAA said.

The results of the negotiations will be announced July 16, the CAA added.

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Category: Taiwan