[jitterbug13]

ATLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin will lead a delegation of local officials and business leaders to China next month.

Among the items on her agenda will be helping Delta Air Lines get a direct route to the country. Franklin will also try to persuade officials there to open a Chinese consulate in Atlanta.

Her weeklong trip will begin Sept. 5 and will include stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other cities.

Chinese delegations have come to Atlanta recently seeking advice about staging the Olympics and other issues, Franklin said. Atlanta hosted the Olympics in 1996 and Beijing will host it in 2008.

It "only seemed reasonable we would continue the exchange and visit them," Franklin said.
China is seeing its economy grow rapidly and has been a hot topic among state and local economic development officials.

Georgia officials said in June the state will open a trade office in Beijing next year. Craig Lesser, Georgia's commissioner of economic development, plans to leave Friday on his second mission to China. Lesser will also lobby for a Chinese consulate and for Delta's access to China.

And officials hope Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue will fly to China next year.

Atlanta-based Delta has been lobbying Chinese and U.S. officials for a direct flight to China for years. Delta is one of the only major carriers without a direct China route, said Jim Whitehurst, Delta's chief operating officer.

The U.S. and Chinese governments awarded Continental Airlines and American Airlines direct flights in 2005 and 2006. Whitehurst believes Delta has a "very, very good shot" of winning such a route when it's eligible again in 2008.

Such flights are key to opening commerce between Atlanta and foreign markets, said Jorge Fernandez, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's vice president of global commerce.

Atlanta can be a difficult sell to overseas companies if they do not have direct access to the city, he said. Delta's direct flights to places such as Denmark and Latin America have already led to new business in Atlanta, Fernandez said.