Forty flights between Shanghai and Taiwan have been registered for the lunar New Year holiday, Chinese state media has reported.

Taiwanese airlines will be able to use airports on the Chinese mainland for the first time - but planes will still not be able to travel directly.

Passengers usually have to switch planes in Hong Kong or Macau

The flights, which will operate for the holiday period only, will stop off in either Hong Kong or Macau.

The BBC's correspondent in Shanghai says the move marks a step forward in diplomatic relations between China and Taiwan.

The flights, starting in late January, will be the first by Taiwanese airlines since the country banned direct contact through trade, post and transportation with China amid the Communist takeover in 1949.

Taiwan's cabinet last month approved the charter flights to run between 26 January and 10 February.

But it rejected direct flights, which, if allowed, would have cut the journey time to about 90 minutes.

Bargaining chip

Passengers on scheduled flights generally have to change planes - and often airlines - in Hong Kong or Macau. The flights take about four hours and are severely congested over the festive period.

The planned extra flights will allow thousands of Taiwanese business people and their families working in Shanghai to return home for the holiday.

The Taiwanese airline Far East Air Transport on Saturday said it had been granted rights to fly charter services to the mainland during the lunar New Year celebration, which this year falls on 1 February.

The approval had been granted by China's civil aviation authorities, the airliner said.

Taiwan's business community, pouring ever more investment into China, is strongly championing the lifting of the ban on direct links.

But our correspondent says the issue remains one of the few bargaining chips that Taiwan holds in the diplomatic struggle with China.

Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, is also likely to be reluctant to make any move that could boost the standing of Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian.

It regards him as pushing the island along a dangerous path towards formal independence.