It will soon become a lot easier to travel between the mainland and Taiwan after regular direct flights get off the ground.

The mainland has unveiled schedules for direct, regular, cross-Straits flights at the same time as Taiwan officials have called for a relaxation of restrictions on mainland travelers to the island.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China said on Tuesday that nine airlines will operate 136 fights each week. The flights will connect Taiwan with 27 mainland cities. Two freight airlines will also complete 14 direct flights each week.

A landmark agreement signed by the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) on Nov 4, 2008, had cleared the way for the two sides to launch direct charter flights.

Previously, flights across the Taiwan Straits were only offered on weekends and during four major traditional festivals - and then passengers had to travel via a third place, usually Hong Kong or Macao.

Under a deal signed by ARATS president, Chen Yunlin, and SEF chairman, Chiang Pin-kung, on April 26, both sides then agreed to expand cross-Straits direct charter flights into direct regular flights.

The Taiwan media has reported that regular flights could start as soon as Aug 31.

Statistics from Taiwan's aviation authority showed the cross-Straits route was the only profitable one for Taiwan's aviation industry in 2009. Most days, aircraft are more than 75 percent full.

Experts said seating capacity will be increased as regular flights across the Straits are begun. Improvements to price and service are also expected.

Shenzhen Airlines, which will complete seven flights to Taipei each week - up from its current two - said it will open an agency in Taipei as soon as next month. The airline has recruited five pilots from Taiwan.

Pilot Rui Jizhong said he was looking forward to participating. After graduating from Taiwan's Air Force Academy, he had worked for Taiwan's Far Eastern Air Transport until the company went out of business last year.

Call to relax tourism

Liu Chao-shiuan, head of Taiwan's "Executive Yuan", said on Tuesday his administration was considering allowing mainland visitors to travel as individual tourist in Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on a trial basis, the Taipei Times reported yesterday.

Officials in Taiwan's Matsu also put forward the idea of allowing mainland travelers to visit Matsu without a visa for a maximum of three days, and suggested giving landing visas to mainland people from the army and government.

Current cross-Straits agreements require mainlanders to travel in a group of at least five.

There were calls for a relaxation of regulations after the number of mainland tourists fell to fewer than 1,000 per day from a peak of more than 3,000 per day a few months ago.

(China Daily July 9, 2009)