On December 26, Shanghai Airlines started selling tickets for eight round-trip charter flights to Taiwan during the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year in mid-February.

The Shanghai-based company has scheduled six round-trip, direct charter flights between Shanghai and Taipei between Feb. 14 and 25,and another two round-trip charter flights between Shanghai and Kaohsiung.

Boeing 767 and 757 aircraft will fly the routes, sources with Shanghai Airlines said.

A business class round-trip ticket for adults costs 6,500 yuan (833 U.S. dollars) and an economy class ticket 4,650 yuan (581 U.S. dollars).

Thirteen ticket centers in Shanghai are taking reservations in addition to at least one ticket agency in each of the neighboring cities of Kunshan, Wujiang, Wuxi and Nantong.

The company is also taking reservations at its 24-hour service hotline 10105858.

In the two-week holiday season starting on Feb. 5, Taiwan airlines will make 96 charter flights between the three largest mainland cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and Taiwan's Taipei and Kaohsiung, according to an agreement reached between the two sides.

The Chinese Lunar New Year starts on Feb. 18, 2007.

Mainland and Taiwanese airlines operated 72 non-stop charter flights during the last Spring Festival, carrying a total of 27,000 passengers.

The idea of Spring Festival charter flights was mooted in 2002 by Taiwan business people and personalities, as there had been no direct air links between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits for more than five decades.

The first non-stop charter flights across the Taiwan Straits were launched during the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2005.

Cross-Strait charter flights were also available this year for Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and is a time for family reunions.