Taiwan's largest air carrier said Saturday that the decision to offer discounted cross-Taiwan Strait flights starting Sunday was voluntary and not a concession to government pressure. China Airlines (CAL) told the Central News Agency that the cut was based on the company's steadily improving performance following the 2008 economic downturn. 'Since the first quarter of this year we have seen our revenue much higher than expected, ' said company spokesman Hamilton Liu. Acknowledging that cross-strait flights have played a major role in generating profits, Liu said the discount was initiated to pay back CAL customers. Starting Sunday, the fare for popular CAL routes such as Songshan-Hongqiao and Taoyuan-Nanjing will fall to NT$9,500 (US$301) from NT$10,580 for roundtrip tickets with a stay of up to 14 days. Currently, the carrier provides 61 roundtrip flights to 14 destinations in China every week. The price cut comes amid public complaints that prices for direct cross-strait flights are excessively high. The government has said it cannot intervene, but launched what it called a 'morality advice' campaign to persuade the carriers. 'We have discussed the issue with the carriers five times since early this year, ' said Yeh Yung-ching, director of the air transport division of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). What the government could do, he said, was use its position as the company's biggest shareholder to urge the airline to lower fares, prompting other carriers to follow suit. Two other major Taiwanese carriers, EVA Airways and TransAsia Airways, said earlier this month they will cut cross-strait ticket prices from Sunday and Oct. 26, respectively. As demand for direct cross-strait flights still greatly exceeds supply, both carriers and the travel industry have said the best solution would be to allow more flights, letting the market adjust itself. 'We're limited to 370 flights a week, and you can't expect the fare to be desirable in that case, ' said Spicer Lee, a spokesman for the Taipei Association of Travel Agents. China and Taiwan agreed in May to add 100 new cross-strait direct flights to bring the total to 370. 