BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland and Taiwan began negotiations on weekend chartered flights here Thursday five years after the service was adopted for major festivals.

    Sun Yafu and Li Bingcai, vice chairmen of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), discussed the issue with Kao Koong-lian, vice chairman and secretary-general of Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

    The talks followed the meeting between ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin and his Taiwan counterpart Chiang Pin-kun on Thursday morning.

    In 2003, the mainland and Taiwan agreed to offer chartered flights during the Spring Festival, China's major festival for family reunions, to help Taiwan business people working on the mainland return home.

    That year, the flights had to land in Hong Kong or Macao en route and only Taiwan airline companies could operate the flights.

    The service suspended in 2004 due to the disagreement over operation details between the two sides. They resumed a year later after an agreement was reached to allow both mainland and Taiwan airlines to operate direct non-stop flights. The terminals in the mainland also increased from just Shanghai to three with the inclusion of Beijing and southern Guangzhou.

    Since 2006, all Taiwan residents having legal passes to travel across the Strait have been allowed to board chartered flights instead of just business people and their families. Xiamen city, in southeastern Fujian Province, has become the newest terminal.

    Meanwhile, the service has been expanded to three other major Chinese festivals, the Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

    However, residents and industries from the both sides are calling for regular chartered flights for weekends and faster cargo transport services.

    The ARATS and SEF will also talk about the issue of mainland tourists traveling to Taiwan, according to the schedule.

    It was a "down-to-earth and right" attitude that the two sides would pick up easier problems first and start from economic issues, said Chiao Jen-ho, former SEF vice chairman and secretary-general, in a telephone interview with Xinhua.

    "I believe the talks will produce practical results," he said.