Several major US airlines have applied to the US Department of Transportation for direct flights between China and the United States from 2008 and 2009.

American Airlines, the largest US carrier, on Monday asked for rights to operate a route from Chicago's O'Hare Airport to Beijing.

United Airlines has applied for flights between Guangzhou and San Francisco in 2008 and between Shanghai and Los Angeles in 2009.

US Airways is seeking to offer non-stop flights between its Philadelphia hub and Beijing.

Continental applied to fly between Newark in New Jersey and Shanghai. The Houston-based airline said its flights would serve the financial hub of New York and its large Chinese-American population.

Delta Air Lines Inc has asked for rights to fly from Atlanta to Beijing and Shanghai while Northwest Airlines Corp filed to offer a service between Detroit and the two Chinese cities.

"Not all of them will get the approval," said Li Lei, an aviation analyst with CITIC China Securities. But he expects US airlines, eager to tap the growing Chinese market, to apply for more direct flights between China and the US because "the existing lines are profitable".

Extra non-stop flights are subject to agreements between the two governments. US airlines have been allowed to more than double the number of passenger flights to China to 23 a day by 2012, from the current 10.

A new flight to open this year is likely to go to a US carrier that does not fly the sector now, Bloomberg quoted US Assistant Transportation Secretary Andy Steinberg as saying. Another daily flight may be added in 2008, with four in 2009, three in 2010 and two each in 2011 and 2012.

(China Daily July 19, 2007)