Everybody's kung-fu flying (from Shanghai to Detroit?)

Northwest Airlines has submitted a proposal to start nonstop service between Shanghai and Detroit on or about March 25, 2007. The report says they have filed their request with the U.S. Department of Transportation. We're not quite sure how this clearance works, but wouldn't they have to get approval from China, too?

Detroit would be the first city in the U.S.'s eastern time zone to offer direct service to Shanghai, and being from the east coast, we think it's a great idea (even if it means no more cozy hours spent in Narita Airport's "day rooms"). Sure, we know Detroit isn't very far from Chicago, which already has direct flights to Shanghai, but who wants to set their watches twice on the trip when they could only do it once? What we're really hoping for, however, is that Continental gets approval for Newark-to-Shanghai.

In other aviation news, if you plan on flying Sichuan Airlines, be on your best behavior:

[N]ext Thursday the airline would be recruiting 70 hostesses from Chengdu and Chongqing to work for a new flight route from Chengdu to Seoul in South Korea. One of the priority conditions for candidates would be knowledge of kung fu ...

Photo from divisible eye.