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Beginning Thursday, Xiamen Airlines, based in east China's Fujian Province, will join hands with Taiwan's Foshing Airlines to launch a seamless transport service, by air, sea and land, across the Taiwan Straits, believed to be the most convenient connection to date across the straits.

This new service was announced by Xiamen Airlines and Taiwan's Foshing Airlines at a joint press conference at the Jinyan Hotel in Xiamen on Wednesday.

Though the mainland has long been making efforts to promote the "three direct links" across the Taiwan Straits, no direct flights so far are available across the Taiwan Straits, so passengers flying from Taiwan have to transfer in Hong Kong or Macao in their travel to the mainland, or vice versa, wasting much time and money.

The new service will first fly passengers from across the country by Xiamen airlines to Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian, and then send them by sea to Quemoy, a Taiwan controlled island in the Straits. At Quemoy, they will take Foshing flights to Taiwan, and vice versa.

The entire trip costs less and takes three hours less than before when passengers had to buy air tickets and went through customs in Quemoy to continue travel.

The two airlines initiated their cooperation in 1996, offering one-ticket air service across the Taiwan Straits with transfer in Macao.

Xiamen Airlines, one of China's first airways cooperating in a corporation mechanism, now has a fleet of 27 Boeing planes accommodating 4,046 passengers. Foshing is on the list of Taiwan's top three air carriers.