Nine mainland Chinese carriers were selected yesterday to operate weekday flights across the Taiwan Strait and are expected to launch service on Dec. 15, according to CAAC.

In addition to Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Shanghai Airlines, which all already operate weekend cross-strait flights, Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines were tapped to operate the weekday flights.

Mainland carriers are permitted to operate 54 weekday flights per week. According to CAAC, CA will operate 10 while 12 have been allotted to CEA, 10 to CZ, five to HNA, six to Xiamen and five to SAL. Sichuan, Shandong and Shenzhen each have been granted permission to operate two weekly weekday flights.

Regarding cross-strait cargo flights, CEA subsidiary China Cargo Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Air China Cargo have been selected. China Cargo Airlines and CZ each are expected to operate 10 monthly flights from Shanghai and Guangzhou respectively, while Air China Cargo is expected to operate five monthly flights from both Shanghai and Guangzhou.