Flights to Shanghai

Direct flights between the Taipei Songshan Airport and the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport are likely to be launched before World Expo 2010 Shanghai opens on May 1, as Deputy Shanghai Mayor Tang Dengjie said Friday that both sides have completed various technical preparations and are working hard to kick off direct flights as early as possible.Tang spoke at a seminar on the enforcement of laws governing protection of Taiwanese investors in mainland China, saying that the Shangshan Hongqiao Airport has completed its renovation work.

For instance, a second runway has been completed after three years construction, and China Eastern Airlines has just concluded successful trial flights using the new runway and is poised to operate direct flights between the Hongqiao Airport and Taipei Songshan Airport.Taiwanese investors in Shanghai and neighboring Kuanshan and Suzhou said they were quite pleased to hear the encouraging news, as it will be much more convenient for them to flight between Taipei and Shanghai.

At the moment, Chinese planes coming to Taiwan presently take off and land at the Shanghai Pudong Airport on the east side of China's largest city.But after Shanghai-Taipei flights begin, they can use the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport in Puxi on the west side, which is only a quarter the distance from downtown Shanghai as the Pudong Airport and can reduce the total travel time between the two cities to only two hours.Since investors and businesspeople from Taiwan live and work mostly in the Puxi district, it will save them much transport time when traveling between Taipei and Shanghai.

Domestic airlines, including China Airlines and Trans Asia Airways, said they expected direct flights between Songshan Airport and Hongqiao Airport to be realized “the sooner, the better,” adding that they can use 180-seat A320 planes and 150-seat Boeing 737-800 planes to serve the route.Meanwhile, officials with the Civil Aeronautics Administration said that they have yet to be officially informed that direct flights between Songshan Airport and Hongqiao Airport will be advanced to March from their original scheduled beginning after the conclusion of Expo Shang Oct. 31.The officials said that the expansion of the runways at Songshan Airport is slated to be completed by the end of September for use by at least 270-seat airplanes.