Direct charter flights carrying Taiwan businessmen for the Spring Festival were successfully realized on Saturday. Nine planes from Chinese mainland and Taiwan rounded off the task of 18 flights.

Media in Taiwan was started off in full swing with heated coverage. TV stations vied each other in launching live SNG broadcasts and relevant news was rolled out on TV. The 2005 Spring Festival charter flights became the focus of news coverage that prevailed over all others. The print media devoted large spaces to reflection on the process of the first direct flights, believing that the direct charter flights save both time and money and are a good beginning.

The Taiwan newspaper United Daily News not only reported the Spring Festival charter flights at its top news entitled Two-way Direct Flights Across the Straits Go Down in History, but also carried a special report on the subject Ice-breaking First Flights Across the Straits, which took up four full pages. Articles such as Mainland Flight Attendants So Red detail the acts and words of mainland flight attendants and captains as completely as possible. Dare Not Bring Two Children If Not For Direct Flights and It Seems A Taiwan Businessmen Day describe the joyous feeling of the Taiwan businessmen on board the charter flights. There were also articles that continued to criticize the authorities for limiting the identities of passengers on board the planes. According to local media more than 100 passengers did not find their names on the book after landing in Taipei late Saturday and had to write an "account". The incident sank the heart of passengers who had received honored guest-like treatment during the trip and made a vivid contrast.

The China Times carried a special report - Direct Charter Flights Across the Straits in nine full pages, which covers in detail the takeoff and landing as well as the service level of the charter flights in two sides of the Straits. Photos of the six mainland captains who landed at the Taipei Taoyuan Airport and on-site coverage were published in the order they arrived there. Large spaces were devoted to the coverage of the preparation work at the Beijing Capital International Airport and the Shanghai Pudong Airport. Articles such as Direct Flights Save Three Times Cost for Taiwan Businessmen and Taiwan Businessmen Hope for Normalization of Two-way Flights express the eager desire of Taiwan businessmen for facilitating the exchange between the two sides of the Straits, "hoping that the 'two-way' flights can be brought into normal flights to serve more Taiwan businessmen across the Straits". The newspaper also published results of the latest public opinion poll on Sunday. They show that more than half of those surveyed believed the success of direct charter flights have positive impact on the relations across the Straits and conditions for full-scale direct flights across the Straits have matured.

The Economic Daily News also dedicated three full pages to the coverage of the Spring Festival charter flights, believing that "the direct flights across the Straits that have been held off for 56 years can eventually set up a new milestone".

The Commercial Times carried an editorial entitled "Ice-breaking First Flights" saying that "mainland airlines' first direct flights to Taiwan, although they do not mean real full-scale direct flights, are nevertheless a good beginning".

By People's Daily Online