An executive of the UAE airline, Emirates, has said many of the passengers the airline picks up in Luanda are bound for Beijing or the southern Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Hong Kong, Angop reports.

The Angolan state-run news agency quotes Emirates Angola Country Manager Luís Berenguel as saying that, conversely, many of the passengers the airline picks up in Beijing are bound for Angola.

The report says Mr Berenguel gave no figures.

Emirates has carried 1.8 million passengers and 14,700 tonnes of cargo into or out of Angola since it began flying there in October 2009, the report says.

Emirates will keep on serving Angola, bringing in tourists and investors, even though the economic slump there has curbed the amount of business the airline does, Angop quotes the executive as saying.

Separately, the newspaper Jornal de Angola quotes Mr Berenguel as saying the advent of the new airport in Luanda, which is funded by China, may mean more business for Emirates.