Taiwan-based EVA Airways Corp. Saturday launched a weekly direct flight service linking southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City and Qingdao City in eastern Shandong Province.

The service will operate on Saturdays. It is the first direct service between the two cities.

The flight will increase the number of direct flights between Qingdao and Taiwan to 20 per week, according to Qingdao Airport.

Thanks to increased people-to-people exchange between Taiwan and the mainland, Qingdao Airport's passenger traffic to and from Taiwan this year reached 145,495 on Nov. 15, a 55 percent year-on-year increase.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2010)