Taipei - China Southern Airlines opened a representative
office in Taipei Thursday, becoming the first Chinese airline to gain
a foothold in the Taiwan market.
Si Xianmin, chairman of China's largest airline, opened the office
in Taipei's trendy Minsheng East Road. Taiwan transport officials and
airline representatives attended the opening ceremony.
The office is aimed at promoting China Southern's business links
with Taiwan and will not sell plane tickets, which are sold by Taiwan
travel agencies.
China Southern has 342 planes serving 841 destinations worldwide.
It ranked as number one in Asia and number four in the world in terms
of passenger volume in 2008, according to the International Air
Transport Association (IATA).
Taiwan, after having banned air links with China for six decades,
launched weekend charter flights with China and allowing Chinese tour
groups to enter Taiwan in July 2008 and regular charter flights in
December.
The opening of air links prompted Chinese airlines to discuss a
wide range of cooperation with its Taiwan counterparts, including
encouraging Taiwan tourists to fly to foreign countries via China
which has more overseas air links than Taiwan.
The lack of diplomatic ties - it is recognized by only 23
countries - has hurt Taiwan, making it difficult for the island to
sign air pacts on the one hand, and causing foreign airlines to
neglect Taiwan on the other.
Taiwan's air network with Asia, Europe and the United States is
not extensive, and it has no direct air links with Africa and Latin
America.
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