First mainland tour group heads for Taiwan

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Source: CCTV.com | 07-04-2008 13:27

Planes for the cross-Strait weekend charter flights have also taken off from airports across the Chinese mainland and from the island of Taiwan. Some have arrived at their respective destinations.

This is the first cross-Strait weekend charter flight from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan.

This is the first cross-Strait weekend charter flight from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan. The Airbus A-330, operated by China Southern Airlines, took off around 6:30 on Friday morning from Baiyun airport in Guangzhou, the capital city of southern Guangdong Province.

The historic flight landed at the Taipei Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan after traveling one hour and 40 minutes, covering a distance of 1,100 kilometers. The plane carried 258 passengers, including more than one hundred mainland tourists, the first tourist group allowed into Taiwan.

Another cross-Strait weekend charter flight departed for Taiwan at around 7:15 on Friday morning from the airport in Xiamen City, in Eastern Fujian Province.

Another cross-Strait weekend charter flight departed for Taiwan at around 7:15 on Friday morning from the airport in Xiamen City, in Eastern Fujian Province. The Xiamen Airlines plane arrived at the Taipei Songshan Airport after one hour and 45 minutes. More than two hundred passengers were on board the plane to witness the landmark moment. Each of them received a gift package from the airline, including a model plane and a map of Taiwan.

Eastern Nanjing is the fifth new city to engage in the cross-Strait charter flights. At 8:00 on Friday morning, an China Eastern Airlines plane took off from Nanjing Lukou Airport, destined for the Taipei Songshan Airport. The plane, with more than 170 passengers, landed around 11 o'clock. It's scheduled to return to Nanjing in the afternoon.

At Pudong airport in the eastern city of Shanghai, a Shanghai Airlines plane took off around 9:00 on Friday morning for a weekend charter flight. It was due to land at Taipei Songshan airport at noon. Around 10:20, a China Airlines flight landed in Pudong airport, the first weekend charter flight to arrive in the mainland from Taiwan.

Editor:Xiong Qu