Mainland urges Taiwan's DPP authorities to remove barriers to resuming direct flights

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The mainland has no restrictions on the full resumption of direct flights across the Taiwan Strait, and Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities should remove their unreasonable barriers to cross-Strait flights, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a press conference that the obstacles to resuming flights are entirely due to the DPP authorities.

The DPP authorities should respond to the strong call on the island for the full resumption of cross-Strait flights and enable airlines on both sides of the Strait to plan their flight schedules based on market demands, Chen said.

He noted that more than 300 round-trip passenger flights currently operate between 15 mainland airports and Taiwan each week, far short of demand. By comparison, before 2020, passenger flights linked 61 airports on the mainland with Taiwan, with a peak of 890 weekly round-trip services.