China’s civil aviation regulation said in its brief statement on Friday that those routes were now in operation, adding that from May 16 it will “further optimise” airspace around Fuzhou airport. It did not elaborate.
There was no immediate reaction from Taiwan’s government, which has previously accused China of threatening aviation safety.
Kinmen and Matsu both have regular flights to Taiwan.
Flights to and from Taiwan and China’s Xiamen and Fuzhou take a circuitous route skirting the median line, rather than flying directly across the strait.
Taiwan has complained about the M503 route before, in 2018, when it said China opened the northbound part of it without first informing Taipei in contravention of a 2015 deal to first discuss such flight paths.
