TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced Monday (June 8) that it is currently discussing recommencing flights from six additional Chinese cities — Shenzhen, Chongqing, Qingdao, Ningbo, Guangzhou, and Changsha — in the first stage of normalizing cross-strait air travel.

At the height of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, only cross-strait flight routes from five airports in Shanghai, Xiamen, Beijing, and Chengdu were resumed beginning February 10. Flights to Taiwan from all other Chinese airports are still suspended, Liberty Times reported.

The second stage is to allow flights from all airports across the strait, but an official date has not yet been decided.

The ministry stated that the plan must still be discussed with the Central Epidemic Command Center and the Mainland Affairs Council. It also acknowledged that airlines will continue to face losses if they cannot carry passengers before the pandemic has eased.