Taipei, Taiwan ? Taiwan’s biggest airline completed the island’s first commercial flight to China in more than five decades Sunday, a journey many hoped would build trust and ease tensions between the rivals split by civil war.

The purple and white China Airlines jumbo jet flew to Shanghai, by way of Hong Kong, to pick up 243 Taiwanese passengers returning home for the weeklong Chinese New Year — the most important holiday for many Chinese people.

About four hours after leaving Shanghai, the Boeing 747-400 touched down in Taipei after a 30-minute stop in Hong Kong. A long line of reporters, officials and lawmakers greeted the passengers, most of whom were business travelers working in Shanghai.

After stepping off the plane, electronics salesman Gary Kao hugged his wife and said that the special holiday flight shaved a couple hours off his trip — which normally involves changing planes in Hong Kong and frequent delays.

“Today, I can even get home in time for dinner,” he said.

Kao was optimistic that the flight would lead to better ties between Taiwan and China. “This is a great opportunity to improve trust and have more stable relations,” he said.

All six of Taiwan’s major airlines have been allowed to fly the holiday charter flights several times a week through Feb. 9. But each flight must stop in Hong Kong or Macau on the way to and from mainland China, according to Taiwanese regulations.

The flights are an extremely rare sign of cooperation between rivals, who spend most of their time sniping and bickering over the minutiae of sovereignty issues.

Taiwan was once part of China. But when the Communists took over the mainland in 1949, the island refused to accept Beijing’s rule. The top leaders from both sides haven’t met since the split.

Fearing an attack from China, Taiwan has outlawed planes and ships from directly crossing the 160-kilometer-wide (100-mile-wide) Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan also once banned its companies from doing business in China, but during the past decade, the island has significantly relaxed the restrictions on trade and investment. Taiwan estimates that Taiwanese have pumped about U.S. $100 billion into the Chinese economy.

Thousands of Taiwanese work in China, and they’re getting fed up with the ban on direct flights. A nonstop flight between Taipei and Shanghai would only take about 90 minutes.