FACTBOX: Chocks away for Taiwan-China flights

(Reuters) - China and Taiwan signed a landmark deal on Friday to launch regular flights between the long-time rivals, as politics was put aside in favor of practicalities in the first such talks in almost a decade.

Here are some details:

* The flights will start on July 4. The first Chinese tour groups to Taiwan will arrive on July 18. Flights will be limited to Chinese and Taiwanese.

* As many as 3,000 China tourists could come to the island per day, though the quota could be adjusted next year.

* In the meantime, only groups of 10 to 40 tourists can travel to Taiwan for a maximum stay of 10 days.

* Chinese and Taiwan airlines will each operate 18 of the weekend's 36 return flights from Friday to Monday. The number of flights will increase according to demand.

* China will first open Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Nanjing to the flights, and gradually add Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Dalian, Guilin and Shenzhen, and possibly others.

* Taiwan will have eight airports accepting the flights. One is the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which serves northern Taiwan. The others are in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Penghu, Hualien, Kinmen and Taitung.

* Chartered flights still have to fly over Hong Kong airspace for the time being, adding travel time. China and Taiwan are to start discussing a direct flight route "as soon as possible" and air traffic control system coordination.

* Customs procedures will be simplified. Airlines will swap representative offices within six months.

* Charter flights for festivals will continue.

Sources: Reuters, Xinhua, Taiwan media

(Writing by Gillian Murdoch, Beijing Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Nick Macfie)