Routes to China awarded

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines have won two coveted new air routes to China's financial and manufacturing capitals, and four other new routes have been proposed for 2009, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said Tuesday.

The announcement was part of an agreement signed in July with China to double the number of daily flights between the United States and China over the next five years. The agreement also allows for new cargo flights operating to and from the two nations.

Atlanta-based Delta will fly a route from Atlanta to Shanghai available in April, said Peters, who made the announcement from Delta's giant hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Chicago-based United will fly a route between Guangzhou — China's manufacturing center — and San Francisco starting in 2008 because of the U.S. city's longtime "personal, cultural and business ties to China," Peters said.

The transportation secretary also said other U.S.-to-China routes have been proposed for 2009. They include New York to Shanghai for Continental Airlines and Detroit to Shanghai for Northwest Airlines. They also include Chicago to Beijing for American Airlines and Philadelphia to Beijing for U.S. Airways. Those routes are under a public comment period, and Peters said she hopes to make a decision in the near future.

Before Tuesday's announcement, four U.S. carriers — American, Continental, Northwest and United — had a total of 10 daily passenger flights to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.