A visiting mainland official said Tuesday in Taipei that direct flights between Taiwan and Shanghai will be increased in a flexible manner to meet greater demand during the World Exposition 2010 that will open in May in Shanghai.

Xia Xinghua, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), who was visiting Taiwan in his capacity as a senior advisor to the China Air Transport Association, said the CAAC would fully consider the requests raised by airlines from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to offer additional flights.

Xia also urged Taiwan-based airlines to offer more flights to second-tier cities on the mainland such as Chengdu, Kunming, Nanjing, Tianjin, Nanchang and Jinan.

Noting that negotiations on raising the number of flights on popular routes take time, he encouraged Taiwanese aviation companies to better manage their existing flights to these destinations.

Xia, who arrived in Taiwan at the head of 17-member group of mainland representatives Monday, made the remarks at a seminar designed to boost cross-Straits exchanges in civil aviation.

Since Taiwan-mainland air links were established in July 2008, the mainland has opened 31 destinations for carriers on both sides, giving a boost to cross-Straits exchanges on a wide range of fronts, he noted.

Top executives from the civil aviation industry of both sides met at the event, but both sides remained sharply divided over adding flights to popular cross-Straits routes on a regular basis.

The Taiwanese representatives, led by Su Hong-yih, chairman of the Taipei Airlines Association, called for an increase in the number of flights from Taiwan to popular mainland destinations such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 03/17/2010 page4)