SHANGHAI airport management yesterday established an alliance with Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the second-largest airport in the United States, which may lead to the opening of direct flights between local airports and DFW.

Officials of Shanghai Airport Authority, the operator of the city's two civil airports, said the tie-up would strengthen cooperation in various aspects of air hub maintenance.

Officials from the two airport authorities signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Shanghai yesterday on the alliance relationship.

DFW is the US's ninth-busiest international gateway. It is the largest airport in the State of Texas and is the second-largest airport in terms of land area in the US, covering 7,315 hectares, behind Denver International Airport.

DFW handled nearly 685,000 flights and nearly 60 million passengers last year. The airport hosts five terminal buildings and seven runways.

Shanghai airport officials said they were planning to launch in-depth exchanges and cooperation in marketing, personnel training and management for an air hub with multiple runways and terminal buildings with DFW.

Last year, Shanghai airports handled 51.55 million passengers and a cargo turnover of 2.56 million tons - double the number of both passengers and cargo tonnage in 2002.

By 2010, in time for the World Expo, Hongqiao Airport will put into use its second terminal and runway.

By then, the two airports combined will have four terminals and five runways in service as well as a cargo transport zone, which opened in Pudong International Airport in March.

The Shanghai airports are expected to provide strong support in air transport capacity and service for the development of the economy in the Yangtze Delta region.