Northwest Airlines of the US announced in Wuhan Monday that it will join hands with Air China in furthering the code-sharing project, which was launched in December 2000.

By June 2001, the code-sharing services between the two aviation giants is expected to be extended to 15 Chinese cities, from the current eight. Sources at Northwest Airlines said that this figure will probably be 25 by 2002.

In addition,the accumulated mileage of the regular passengers of the two airlines will be mutually acknowledged.

The code-sharing services now cover the nine Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Nanjing, Qingdao, Chengdu and Xiamen.

Northwest Airlines, the fourth-largest airline company, began its cooperation with Air China,the largest airline in China, in 1998.

(Xinhua 03/13/2001)