Passengers wait to board a chartered plane to Taiwan for Duanwu, or the Dragon Boat Festival at Shanghai Pudong Airport on Tuesday morning, June 3, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

The cross-Strait charter flight service kicked off on Tuesday morning with a flight leaving Shanghai for Taipei.

The flight, AE7202 from China Airlines, carrying 158 passengers took off from Shanghai Pudong Airport at 11.10am.

There will be 19 roundtrip charter flights during Duanwu, or the Dragon Boat Festival, from June 3 to June 15, the Civil Aviation Administration of China stated earlier.

Ten major airlines from the mainland and Taiwan will be operating the flights. Apart from Shanghai, flights will also head to Taiwan from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen.

People in the mainland celebrate their first "official" Dragon Boat holiday this year. The State Council revised the official holiday schedule late last year to add three festivals - Qingming, Duanwu and Zhongqiu - in response to public demand.
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on June 8 this year.