First Flights to Cross the Straits Since 1949

The People's Republic of China (PRC) and Republic of China (ROC) 'Taiwan' have been separated since the Communist victory in the Chinese civil war that inevitably followed the defat of the Japanese after World War Two. The PRC does not recognise the sovereignty of the ROC and just one illustration of the tension had been the cessation of direct transport links since 1949.

This has benefitted Hong Kong and Macau greatly which both see a massive throughput of connecting passengers between the island and the mainland. Despite the 'Three Links' policy of the PRC since Deng Xiaoping's ascent to power in 1978 progress on implementing the links (postal, commercial and transportation) has been slow largely because of the PRC's failure to recognise the sovereignty of the ROC. The PRC considers the flights as domestic which the ROC perceives as a threat. Nevertheless gradual progress was made from 2001 with limited ferry trips and from 2003 with some indirect ROC charter flights that needed to touch down in either Hong Kong or Macau on their way to the PRC.

Air China Boeing 737-300 B-5065 Panda Models 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

These flights were scheduled during the important and high traffic period surrounding Chinese New Year, however they were designed only for Taiwanese merchants. Political tensions ended the hope of further flights in 2004, but in 2005 agreement for a more extensive programme of charter flights was made. Most importantly these would not need to touchdown at an intermediary first, making them the first direct flights between Taiwan and the mainland since 1949.

The agreement was made as late as January 15, 2005 for charters to operate during the period January 29 - February 20 between Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai on the mainland and Taipei and Kaohsiung on Taiwan. Twelve airlines applied and eventually operated 48 separate flights. The PRC airlines were keener than those from the ROC as they had never operated on the routes before and the ROC carriers were unhappy with the very short notice. Again the flights were designed for business people, though in the end some tourists, journalists and students were also included that had managed to acquire merchant certificates in Taiwan.

Air China and Hainan Airlines operated from Beijing, China Eastern from Shanghai and China Southern and Xiamen Airlines from Guangzhou. Air China's flights were operated by a pair of leased Shandong Airlines Boeing 737-300s (B-5065 and 5066) as Air China's livery prominently featured the 'Five Star Red Flag' of the PRC and Chinese characters that meant international. The PRC was keen to not suggest the flight was international so the Chinese characters on the repainted Shandong airplane used an abbreviation of Air China without the international connotations and no flag.

Above 3 of the aircraft used on the first day:
B-2055 CZ 777-200                                B-6055 MU A340-600                             B-2498 FM 767-300

Air China was very keen to be the first airline to provide service and its first flight left (CA1087) on January 29 14 minutes early at 07:46 am. It used the 737 B-5065 and carried 88 passengers. Despite being the first flight to the ROC it was not the first to land as a China Southern flight (3097) landed at 09:20 am due to the much closer location of Guangzhou to Taiwan. The Air China flight was flown by Captain Yibin Gin, aged 37. All the airlines used their best staff and provided their very best service and catering.

Air China Boeing 737-300 B-5065 Panda Models 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

B-5065 was originally delivered to VARIG as PP-VPQ in October 1997 via Bouillion Aviation Services. She was returned in 2003 and onward leased to Shandong. They returned her in 2011 and she has since joined Canadian North as C-GCNZ.

The 2005 charters opened the way for a gradual normalisation of operations between the two nations and were repeated in 2006, though to much less fanfare. From 2008 direct flight links were enabled between the mainland and Taiwan via the Three Links agreement.

References

2005. Cross Strait Aviation News. Skyscrapercity.com
2005. Negotiators agree on cross-straits flights. Info Taiwan
Cross-Strait Charter. Wikipedia