Taiwan is evaluating a request from China to open additional cross-strait flight routes to destinations such as Urumqi and Xi’an, a Taiwanese government official said Thursday, April 16, while noting the plan is likely not commercially viable.

Speaking at a press conference in Taipei, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Director Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said Taiwan had received the request on April 7. This was the same day the KMT’s leader, Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), went to China to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平).

Communication channels on civil aviation links between the two sides are operating normally, he added.

The Taiwanese official went on to say that flights to cities such as Urumqi, Lanzhou and Xi’an currently lack return passengers. “With no return passengers, routes like this are basically not attractive to airlines,” he explained.

Route expansion would depend on resolving tourism-related issues to ensure stable passenger demand, he said, referring to restrictions such as those placed by Chinese authorities on many Chinese citizens travelling to Taiwan.

Taiwan will continue evaluating the proposal but has not set a timeline for a response, he said.