SEVERAL United States carriers have won permission by the US Department of Transportation to start new flights to China after the two countries signed an agreement to open up the skies, the companies said yesterday.

Continental Airlines will fly between Newark, New Jersey, and Shanghai starting in March 2009. AMR Corp's American Airlines will fly between Chicago and Beijing, while Northwest will begin a service between Detroit and Shanghai at the same time.

"We're obviously delighted with DOT's decision today," said Will Ris, American Airlines' senior vice president of government affairs.

"We said in our application that America's Chicago gateway will provide increased network competition and customer choice in the growing China market."

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines Inc and US Airways Group Inc - the only major US carriers that operate globally without flights to China - were also awarded flights to China by the transportation department.

Delta plans a daily flight starting on March 30, 2009 between Atlanta and Shanghai. US Airways' daily service will begin on March 25, 2009, and will be between Philadelphia and Beijing.

A bilateral aviation agreement reached by the two countries in May granted US carriers more access to China, an aviation market expanding by 15 percent in recent years.

Under the pact, US carriers will more than double their round-trip flights to 23 by 2012.

The rapidly growing Chinese aviation market has lured overseas carriers to bid for a stake in domestic counterparts.

Singapore Airlines Ltd and parent Temasek Holdings Pte have signed to pay about US$918 million for a combined 24 percent stake in China Eastern Airlines Corp, the companies announced early this month. The deal still needs approval by the company board.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Hong Kong's biggest carrier, paid HK$4.07 billion (US$524 million) in June last year to double its stake in Air China to 20 percent for more access to the Chinese market.