Tianjin is to add two non-stop round way flights across the Taiwan Strait to cope with rising passenger traffic, a senior civil aviation official has said.

Currently Tianjin only has one non-stop flight to Taipei on Friday since the debut of its flight to Taipei at the end of last year.

The two new airlines will be operated by Air China and Shanghai Airlines. According to Air China, it will launch the flight once every Sunday from the end of August onwards.

A recent release by the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), said airlines across the Straits are allowed to run regular or charted flights between 27 cities on the Chinese mainland and cities in Taiwan.

At present 136 passenger flights are operating across the Straits every week, 60 percent ofthem operated by Air China, Eastern Airlines and Southern Airlines.

The current single flight from Tianjin to Taipei costs 2,450 yuan and round way flight 3,450(excluding tax). The price is slightly higher than that of non-stop chartered flights leaving from Beijing and Shanghai to Taipei because Tianjin traffic flow to Taiwan on Sunday is significant.

By Guo Changdong