The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) Monday announced it has approved designation of restricted airspace for the exclusive use of the Taiwan airport on Jinmen island, a close neighbor to east China's Fujian province.

The plan will help facilitate the smooth operation of a landing and flight control system recently established at the airport, said an official with the Air Traffic Management Bureau of CAAC.

If other flights not departing from or heading for Jinmen deviate from their own air routes and enter the restricted airspace, Jinmen airport is entitled to give regulation orders to the strayed airliner, the official said.

The main purpose of opening the restricted airspace is to enhance flight safety and to ensure normal operation of flights at Jinmen airport.

Test flights had been carried out successfully from June 9 to 16 to make final checks on the new landing and flight control system.

The approval was made three days prior to the country's traditional mid-Autumn Festival, a family reunion occasion which falls on Sept. 11 this year according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

During last year's Mid-Autumn Festival on Sept. 21, residents from Xiamen, Fujian's capital, and Jinmen, gathered together at sea for the first time in 53 years, as part of nationwide celebrations.

Jinmen, a key transfer point both in the sea and air traffic between Chinese mainland and Taiwan, has played a vital role in cross-Straits economic and trade cooperation and exchanges.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2003)