Ethiopia Airways and Kenya Airways have raised their fight for the Africa-China route with the leasing of the Boeing 777-300ER and are now Jostling for direct flights to America that has remained a pipe dream.

The two east African Airlines expect direct flights to China and U.S., two of the world’s largest economies, to facilitate growth in their long-haul routes and increase their earnings.

Three weeks after Kenya Airways’ new Boeing entered service with a direct flight to Guangzhou, China, Ethiopian Airways followed suit with a matching aircraft, which was delivered as the airline signed a maintenance agreement with American company, GE Aviation.

Kenya Airways Chief Executive, Titus Naikuni, said earlier in November it’s pointless to acquire more aircraft from Boeing unless the U.S. government allows his airline to begin direct flights to the country.

“I don’t see the point of buying aircraft from Boeing, then you don’t allow us to get into the U.S.,” Naikuni said at an event in the capital, Nairobi, to mark the arrival of a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, the biggest in the company’s fleet, Bloomberg reported.

Both airlines are now investing to create awareness as they seek to fill the planes with passengers, Venture Africa cited a Business Daily report.

Other than China, Ethiopian Airlines is also counting on its new investment to strengthen its operations to the US market, where it offers direct flights.

“The aircraft will be deployed on our long haul non-stop routes to the US and China and will give us exceptional range capability and fuel efficiency,” said a statement by Ethiopian Airways.

While KQ expects to have four of the aircraft with another expected to be delivered next year, Ethiopian has an order for three others.