Taiwan and China launched historic charter flights on Saturday with commercial jets flying non-stop between them for the first time in more than 55 years, raising hopes for permanent air links and better ties.
Starting with China Southern Airlines, six planes from the mainland touched down one after another at Taipei's international airport, becoming the first Chinese planes to land on Taiwan soil since 1949, excluding hijacked aircraft.
Taipei had banned direct flights on security grounds and still insists the special charters fly through Hong Kong or Macau air space. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and threatens to invade if the democratic island declares formal independence.
"I have never flown home so quickly," said Jerry Chen who, with his wife and 4 year old son, was one of the 241 passengers on the first 80 minute China Southern flight from Guangzhou.
"If direct flights can be a regular thing, it will definitely bring the two sides closer together," said Chen, who owns a machinery factory in southern China and returned to Taipei to visit relatives over the Lunar New Year holiday.
Taiwan has forbidden direct transport links with China since the Nationalists fled to the island in 1949 after losing the mainland to the communists in a civil war.
An estimated 1 million of Taiwan's people, or 5 percent of its population, work or live in China and must normally transit through places such as Hong Kong when travelling between the two sides, adding at least four hours to their journeys.
The temporary charter services operated by Taiwanese and Chinese airlines will ferry Taiwanese business people and their families home for the Lunar New Year on February 9, the biggest holiday in the Chinese world.
Passengers, many clutching commemorative gifts from the airlines such as postage stamps, flags and rice cakes, uniformly expressed hopes the charters could become permanent air links.
"This is an ice-breaking flight," said Tsai Chun-hung, owner of a plastics factory in China. "It saves us time and money."
Officials from Taipei and Beijing held out hope the temporary charters could lead to a resumption of stalled talks and reduce political tension in the Taiwan Strait, which many security analysts see as one of Asia's most dangerous flash points.
On Friday, a senior Chinese official offered to jumpstart talks with Taiwan at any time, in the right circumstances.
"This is a historic first step for cross-strait relations, but we don't want this to be just an individual case," said Chiu Tai-san, vice-chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which formulates policy towards China. "Both sides must not only show goodwill, they must also take concrete action."
The flights were launched with traditional lion and dragon dances on both sides, and many arrived ahead of schedule.
In a diplomatic gesture, China's flag carrier, Air China, did not carry the communist flag on its fuselage.
Taiwan's largest carrier, China Airlines, became the first to fly to Beijing and its 231 passengers were greeted by applause from guests assembled on the tarmac and a dragon dance in sub-zero weather in the Chinese capital.
"We hope we can realise regular direct flights soon so Taiwan businessmen can have breakfast in Taiwan, lunch in Fujian, and return home to Taiwan for dinner," said Wu Rongnan, president of Xiamen Airlines based in China's southeastern province of Fujian.
"I feel that our motherland (China) is now closer to Taiwan. It's now as convenient as flying from Beijing to Chongqing," said a passenger at Shanghai Airport.
Trade between the rivals has boomed since the late 1980s, with Taiwan companies pouring up to USD$100 billion into China.
Under the landmark agreement clinched by aviation officials acting in a private capacity, 12 airlines will operate 48 charter flights between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China and Taiwan's Taipei and Kaohsiung from Saturday to February 20.
