United Airlines (UA) will launch a daily non-stop air route from Beijing to Washington DC on March 29.

It will be the fifth air route operated by UA between China and the United States. The existing four routes are the Beijing-Chicago, Beijing-San Francisco, Shanghai-Chicago and Shanghai-San Francisco routes.

"The new air route will give people more choices when they want to fly to Beijing to watch the Olympic Games next year," Mark Schwab, UA's Vice President of the Pacific division, said.

Sidney Kwok, general manager of UA China Operation, said they would use Boeing 747-400 planes to fly the new air route, and in late March, also on the Shanghai-Chicago route.

"It means UA's air passenger seats in China will go up by 32 percent," said Kwok.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)