Five-Day Wait for Beijing Flight Lures U.S. Airlines

One of Peter Philipp Wingsoe’s employees at a Los Angeles marketing firm recently waited five days for a business-class ticket on a United Airlines jet home from Beijing because planes were so packed.

Those crowds are spurring United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and other U.S. carriers to expand flights to Asia, lured by economic growth in China that’s triple the U.S. rate and new access to an airport nearer to downtown Tokyo.