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Cross-strait flights by July, Ma says

“Ma expressed many of his visions and views regarding direct flights on the campaign trail. He will stick to those promises by tackling the issues one step at a time. ”

Lo Chih-chiang, president-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s spokesman

The incoming administration aims to open direct flights by the first weekend of July as recommended by a pan-blue think tank, but no exact date has been chosen yet, a spokesman for president-elect Ma Ying-jeou said (馬英九) yesterday.

“Ma expressed many of his visions and views regarding direct flights on the campaign trail. He will stick to those promises by tackling the issues one step at a time,” Lo Chih-chiang (羅致強) said, adding that the administration would adhere to the principle “do more, talk less.”

Details regarding direct flights to and from China will not be finalized until the new government and Beijing have reached a consensus on the matter, he said.

On Thursday, the KMT-affiliated National Policy Foundation’s Sustainable Development Division proposed a timetable for cross-strait flights, marking July 4 as the goal for inaugurating regular weekend flights connecting four of Taiwan’s airports to four airports across the Taiwan Strait.

The schedule calls for regular weekend flight services starting on Fridays after 12pm and running until noon on Mondays.

As the flights would bypass Hong Kong, they would be fuel and time efficient, cutting flight time in half, the think tank said. Currently, “direct” cross-strait charter flights must fly through Hong Kong’s air space, although do not have to land there.

A flight to Shanghai would drop from nearly five hours via Hong Kong to less than two hours, it said.

Division convener George Chen (陳世圯), who served as acting transportation minister for two months in 1990, said the four Taiwanese airports — Songshan Airport in Taipei City, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taichung Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport — would offer flights directly to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen.

To minimize the sensitivity of flying into China’s flight information region (FIR), Ma’s administration will reportedly suggest that all northern-bound flights, such as flights to Shanghai and Beijing, should fly over the Matsu route.

Flights to Guangzhou would fly over Shantou, near Kinmen, and flights to Xiamen would fly around the south bend of Kinmen. All of the flights would skirt the parameters of the Hong Kong flight zone.

Chen said both sides would also need to negotiate details on the domestic routes cross-strait flights would take after entering the other country’s airspace.

In his report, Chen also suggested that if the cross-strait negotiations run smoothly, the Ma administration should consider opening up regular direct sea links before cross-strait flights are launched.

Chen’s plan has sparked skepticism from members of the airline industry who are concerned that Beijing has not offered a gesture of approval for Ma’s flight proposal.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said it was pessimistic about the possibility of tagging weekend direct flights onto existing flight agreements as the KMT has suggested, meaning that more negotiations with Beijing would be needed.

“Currently, there are only four types of direct flights that are accepted by both Taiwan and China, which include major holidays, cargo transport and medical and humanitarian purposes. It is impossible to just simply expand the existing agreement to include weekend flights without starting the negotiating process from scratch,” MAC vice chairman Liu Teh-hsun (劉德勳) said yesterday.

If opening direct flights is as easy as the KMT says, “then does that mean all the arduous negotiations for comprehensive direct flights for the last seven years were just one big joke?” he asked.
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