China's Southern Airlines will launch the first airline connecting Beijing with Lagos, former capital of Nigeria, on Saturday, according to the airline's Beijing office.

This will be the first regular flight offered by a Chinese airline between China and an African country, said deputy manager Zhao Fengsheng.

Flight CZ331 will take off at 11:40 PM. from Capital International Airport in Beijing, fly via Dubai, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and land at 11:10 a.m. local time in Lagos. The total flight time is around 16 hours.

The airline will operate three Airbus 330 flights from Beijing to Lagos each week with a capacity of 260 passengers.

According to the company, almost all the seats for the first flight have been sold.

A one-way economy class ticket costs at least 6,400 yuan (US$819), and a one-way business class seat 16,000 yuan (US$1,126).

The flight will serve the needs of over 5,000 Chinese railway workers and experts involved in railway construction in Nigeria, said He Zongkai, deputy manager of the company.

It will also facilitate tourism and trade between China and African countries, he added.

Lagos is the largest port in west Africa with a population of around 14 million.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2006)