Hainan Airlines, a major Chinese carrier, is to open the first direct flight between Beijing and the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Nov. 17 amid booming trade between the two nations in recent years.

The Beijing-Khartoum flight with Airbus 340-600 takes off at 1:30 a.m. from Beijing every Tuesday and Friday and arrives in Khartoum at 9:20 a.m. local time.

Hainan Airlines has another flight to Africa, Beijing to Luanda, capital of Angola, via Dubai.