A total of 42 direct cross-strait charter flights will be offered between April 2 and April 8 for Taiwan businessmen operating in mainland China who wish to return to their hometowns to observe this year's Tomb-Sweeping Day, civil aviation officials announced on March 25.

According to Taiwan's "Civil Aeronautics Administration" (CAA), six Taiwan-based international and domestic carriers will offer 24 flights from Taipei and Kaohsiung to Shanghai and Xiamen.

The flights, mostly from Taipei and Kaohsiung to Shanghai, are being offered by EVA Airways, Taipei-based China Airlines (CAL) and its subsidiary Mandarin Airlines, UNI Airways and Far East Air Transport. UNI Airways will offer four flights from Taipei to Xiamen.

In mainland China, five carriers have applied to offer the direct charter flight services on the traditional festival in which people return to their hometowns to pay homage to their ancestors by cleaning their graves.

The carriers -- China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Air China -- will offer 18 flights from Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangdong and Beijing to Taipei, according to the CAA.

The CAA officials also said the first of the flights, to be operated by CAL, is scheduled to take off from Taipei at 7:55 a.m. on April 2, destined for Shanghai.