Eva Airways, Taiwan's second-largest carrier, plans to increase direct flights to mainland China and seek to work with Chinese mainland airlines as cross-strait business ties improve.

Taiwan and China plan to launch regular flights for the first time since 1949. Direct weekend flights will start on July 4.

"We will definitely want to partner with other airlines, and everyone agrees there are not enough direct flights to mainland China," said Eva Airways spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei.

Eva Airways said it will initially have 7 direct flights to China each week, from both Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei's Songshan domestic airport, but will not trim the number of flights to Hong Kong.

For decades, flights between Taiwan and mainland China had to make lengthy stop-overs in Hong Kong.

On June 20, Eva Airways signed an agreement with China Eastern Airlines to collaborate on ticket issues and luggage handling. China Eastern also wants to fly direct to Taiwan.

"We may lose money in the beginning for some direct flights, but we're not looking at this development just from a business standpoint," said Cao Jianxiong, China Eastern's general manager.

"We hope it will boost Taiwan and China relations and improve economic ties."

Other mainland airlines assigned by regulators to fly direct to Taiwan include China Southern Airlines, Air China, Hainan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.