Taiwan and China restored direct flights between Taiwan and 10 Chinese cities on Friday. The reopening was officially announced by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday.
The destinations include the Taiwan cities of Taoyuan, Taipei and Kaohsiung and the Chinese cities of Shenzhen, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Qingdao, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Ningbo. However, the 2019 Chinese ban preventing Chinese tourists from visiting Taiwan has not been lifted.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, most cross-strait flight routes were canceled. Only flights between Taiwan and the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xiamen were open.
Premier Chen Chien-jen on Friday said there will be more flight destinations opening up in the future as well as transport links between Taiwan’s outlying islands and China. He said the two sides would work towards convenient travel and healthy exchanges between the two sides.
Charter flights will also be allowed between Taiwan and 13 Chinese cities. These include Shenyang, Wuxi, Haikou, Changsha, Xian, Jinan, Hefei, Nanchang, Tianjin, Wenzhou, Dalian, Guilin and Xuzhou. There will be more details coming out soon about using ferry links between China’s coastal cities and Taiwan’s islands of Kinmen and Matsu.