U.S. carrier United Airlines is applying to open a daily non-stop service between Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, and the U.S. city San Francisco in 2008, according to sources with the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

United Airlines announced last week that it will submit a formal application to the U.S. Department of Transportation proposing nonstop service between San Francisco and Guangzhou in 2008.

A United Airlines press release said San Francisco has the largest Chinese-American population of any city in the nation and the proposed route would be the first daily, nonstop U.S. carrier service between the U.S. and Guangzhou.

It said Guangzhou is the business center of the Pearl River Delta region of China and home to a large number of U.S. and other manufacturing facilities.

The new route would operate nonstop on a B777 aircraft with a three-class configuration and 253 seats, according to the press release.