United is seeking approval for new flights from Los Angeles to Shanghai, days after regulators approved service on the pairing by American Airlines.
American secured approval on 7 October, and plans to launch flights in April. Currently, American places its codes on Los Angeles-Shanghai flights operated by China Eastern, but the Chinese carrier is joining the SkyTeam alliance in mid-2011.
United seeks to begin its own Los Angeles-Shanghai service on 20 May, and says Continental aims place its code on the flights. Star partners Continental and United closed their merger on 1 October. Schedules in the Innovata database show that United currently operates one-stop flights between the two cities with connecting service through San Francisco.
United plans to offer service on the route with three class Boeing 777 aircraft.
There are currently 21 US-China frequencies are available for allocation.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
