Taipei  - Taiwan and China will launch regular flights Monday, but Taiwan has cancelled celebration ceremonies as it is still mourning the nearly 700 victims killed by Typhoon Morakot, a newspaper said Sunday.

"Because of the typhoon disaster, our airlines have canceled all ceremonies and will let the other side (China) to hold them," the Liberty Times quoted Lee Wen-long, director general of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, as saying.

Starting Monday, Taiwan and Chinese airlines will operate a total of 270 round-trip flights per week, up from the current 108 charter flights per week.

Chinese airlines will fly to eight destinations in Taiwan, while Taiwan airlines will fly to 27 cities in China.

From their experience with charter flights, Taiwan carriers expect booming business on popular routes and slack business on routes to provincial cities in China, the Liberty Times said.

Currently, the average passenger volume on Taiwan-China charter flights is above 75 per cent, with planes flying to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou 90 per cent full, while flights to smaller mainland cities 57 per cent full, the paper said.

Taiwan and China have been split since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

For decades, Taiwan barred entry to Chinese residents and Taiwanese going to China had to change flights at a third place, usually Hong Kong. China still regards Taiwan a breakaway province.

As cross-strait tension began to thaw, Taiwan and China launched holiday charter flights in 2003, which was expanded to weekend charter flights in July 2008 and upgraded to daily charter flights in December. (dpa)