Mainland adds extra flights to Taiwan for Spring Festival

The Chinese mainland has opened extra flights to facilitate travel across the Taiwan Strait during the Spring Festival travel rush, a mainland spokesperson said Wednesday.

The mainland's Xiamen Airlines has added 110 extra flights from multiple cities on the mainland to Taiwan's Taipei and Kaohsiung, adding transport capacity for over 10,000 passengers, said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.

Xiamen Airlines is based in Xiamen, Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan across the Strait.

Fujian Province is an important transit for compatriots from Taiwan living on the mainland to return home, Ma said, adding that the maritime traffic volume between Fujian and Taiwan was expected to reach 220,000 during the travel rush, up 3 percent year on year.

Ma added that Fujian had also adopted other measures including online ticket booking and more convenient transfers between land and sea transport.