The stewardesses prepare to board on a Wuxi-Taipei direct flight of Shenzhen Airlines at the airport in Wuxi City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Aug. 29, 2011. A regular direct cross-strait flight between Wuxi and Taipei of southeast China's Taiwan was launched Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Shanyu)

NANJING -- A new regular direct air service was launched between Wuxi on the Chinese mainland and Taipei on Monday.

The mainland's Shenzhen Airlines and China Eastern Airlines and Taiwan's China Airlines and TransAsia Airways will jointly operate the air route and share the same flight numbers, according to a spokesman with the Sunan Shuofang International Airport in Wuxi.

Shenzhen Airlines and TransAsia Airways are jointly running a round-trip flight (ZH9021/2 and GE9021/2) every day except Saturday, the spokesman said, while China Eastern Airlines and China Airlines are jointly operating a round-trip flight (MU2931/2 and CI8014/3) every day, plus an additional round-trip flight (MU2961/2 and CI8016/5) on Mondays, he added.

The airport mainly serves its residents and visitors to Wuxi and Suzhou cities, which have 18,000 Taiwan-funded businesses and 300,000 Taiwan business people, and the cities both enjoy close trade links with Taiwan, he said.

"The new air route will further promote cultural, economic and political exchanges between Wuxi, Suzhou and Taiwan," he said.