Why are cross-strait flights routed so wierdly?
 

First off, I'm sorry if I'm asking this in the wrong place. I'm new to and unfamiliar with the site. Anyway, if you take a look on flightaware at flights between XMN/FOC and TPE, you should see that they fly very far north or south before turning toward their destinations. Why don't they just fly a more direct route over the strait?

Without doing any research on this, I'm going to make a reasoned guess that that airspace is under military restriction, and has been for a very long time. Militaries don't like to give up their airspace, so there's probably a very narrow corridor available for civilian flights.

Also air traffic control. Taipei Taoyuan airport approach for landing is normally from the northeast to the southwest, given the prevailing winds for much of the year. To get lined up with navigation aids inbound, you have to be out over the sea beyond the northern end of the island. Given domestic air traffic flying at lower levels, plus Taiwan's hilly terrain, it makes the most sense to keep international traffic over water as much as possible. Military considerations might be another issue.

Some details, although the article is actually the M503 route:
http://thinking-taiwan.com/m503-migh...the-beginning/
In particular:
http://thinking-taiwan.com/wp-conten...edian-line.jpg

Thanks for sharing that excellent article above. To put it in perspective, here was the flight path of my TPE-PEK flight back in 2011. As I had anticipated that sharp turn in the middle of what is supposed to be normal cruising, sensing the plane initiate the bank to the left was an exciting feeling indeed. It was a part of what still makes flying fun after all these years.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...nuary-2011.jpg