More flight rights for US-China routes

The US Department of Transportation has approved two new US-to-China flights and proposed four more, reported the Wall Street Journal. Delta Airlines was approved to offer nonstop flights from Atlanta to Shanghai, starting in April. Meanwhile United Airlines won the right to offer direct flights between San Francisco and Guangzhou, beginning spring of next year. In the pipeline are four new daily flights beginning in 2009: American Airlines for the Chicago-to-Beijing service, Continental Airlines for the Newark-to-Shanghai service, Northwest Airlines for the Detroit-to-Shanghai service, and US Airways for the Philadelphia-to-Beijing service. Final approval of the flight rights will be announced soon. There are currently seven non-stop US-China routes. United holds five while Continental and American fly one each.