The expansion of China Airlines international presence has long been limited by the political status of Taiwan. Flights to Mainland China were not permitted until 2003, when the carrier's Chinese New Year charter flight 585 from Taipei-Taoyuan to Shanghai-Pudong via Hong Kong made China Airlines the first Taiwanese carrier to legally land in Chinese mainland and the first carrier to legally fly between the two areas after their split during the civil war. The carrier operated occasional cross-strait charter flights for another few years until 2008, when regular charters flights started. In 2009, a new air service agreement allowed China Airlines to start regularly scheduled flights to the Mainland. Since then, China has quickly become the second-largest market for China Airlines, with over 130 flights to 33 destinations across the Mainland.