This word from Sen. Claire McCaskill’s office:

BEIJING – Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley have signed an agreement with Wang Changshun, Vice Minister of General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, to promote a new St. Louis-to-China trade route and passenger link.

The memorandum of understanding is an agreement between the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the State of Missouri, the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri and the St. Louis Airport Authority.  The document was signed following meetings with Chinese officials and Blunt, Slay, Dooley and U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill. 

The release follows with quotes from Blunt, Slay, Dooley, Bond and McCaskill (in that order). The RCGA’s Richard Flemming also praises the deal.

The gist of the “memorandum of understanding” is that all parties think St. Louis would make a good hub for freight and passenger flights from China, because St. Louis is in the center of the country. (Right now, most traffic to and from China routes through West Coast airports like LAX.)

Both the U.S. envoy and the Chinese are pledging to set up a joint study in the next six months to look at further possibilities. A delegation of reps from Air China Cargo and the country’s civil aviation authority will also be coming to St. Louis to scout soon.

This comes after Blunt signed an separate agreement with Chinese officials related to making St. Louis a hub for trade with China.

Also, a roll call of just who is on the trade mission: Blunt, Bond, McCaskill, U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, Slay, Dooley, former Gov. Bob Holden; Fleming, David L. Steward (chairman and CEO of World Wide Technology) and executives with Pfizer, Peabody Energy, Unigroup, McEagle Properties, the World Trade Center St. Louis and Lambert St. Louis International Airport.