TAAG Angola Airlines (DT, Luanda 4 De Fevereiro) has re-filed scheduled weekly flights between Luanda Dr António Agostinho Neto and Guangzhou, China, starting on June 23 and using B787-10 equipment, according to AeroRoutes.

The flights are not yet reflected in the airline's online booking engine, ch-aviation research shows, but a spokesperson for TAAG confirmed the route was in the "pipeline" and pending an official announcement.

In January, AeroRoutes reported that TAAG planned to launch 3x weekly flights to Guangzhou with B787-9s on March 30, but the airline could not confirm this at the time to ch-aviation.

TAAG operated scheduled passenger flights to Beijing Capital before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Angolan state-owned flag carrier is looking to China to unlock its intra-African routes in terms of feeder traffic. It will be the only Southern African airline flying directly to China, banking on offering brand-new infrastructure at its hub at Luanda's new Dr António Agostinho Neto airport, new B787 equipment, and shorter flight times compared to connections via elsewhere in Africa or the United Arab Emirates.

According to ch-aviation data, six African airlines currently serve China: