MACAO, Jan. 15 -- Delegates from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan reached an agreement here Saturday on launching non-stop charter flights for Taiwan business people during the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The timetable for the direct flights will be from Jan 29 to Feb 20, Chinese media reported.

Taiwanese businesspeople and their families can take non-stop flights to and fro mainland's Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and Taipei and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.

It was the biggest breakthrough between Taiwan and the mainland in years. It might also raise new prospects for a thaw in tensions in one of Asia's most dangerous potential flashpoints, commented the Associated Press in an earlier report.

Pu Zhaozhou, vice chairman of the board of directors of the mainland-based Straits Aviation Exchange Commission, said before the talks started in a hotel in Macao that, "We hope we can reach a consensus as soon as possible. Up to now, everyone has been very sincere."

His counterpart from the Taiwan island, Billy Chang, also expressed optimism: "My expectation is success."

The charter flights would carry hundreds of Taiwanese who work or study in the mainland back home for the weeklong New Year holiday, which begins February 8. The celebration is the year's biggest in Chinese societies.

Airlines from the two sides of Straits haven't flown direct flights since 1949 when local Taiwan authorities banned direct flights.

Tens of thousands of Taiwanese travel to the mainland each year for sightseeing or doing business. But they have to change planes at a third point -- usually Hong Kong or Macao -- before flying to the mainland.

Business leaders and Taiwan residents say the indirect flights are a waste of time and money, and have been pressuring the local Taipei government to lift the ban.

In 2003, charter flights run by Taiwan airlines picked up hundreds of Taiwanese businesspeople from Shanghai. But the planes had to stop in Hong Kong or Macao, and Taiwan barred mainland airlines from servicing the route.

This year, Taiwan said it would allow mainland airlines to carry passengers if they pass through Hong Kong airspace, without touching down, instead of flying in a straight line across the Taiwan Straits.

Airlines are hoping the charter service will prompt the two sides to start regular flights, which would be extremely lucrative.

(SINA English/Agencies)