South African Airways has made its first non-stop flight to China. An SAA Airbus A340-600, specially branded in honour of the Chinese Year of the Dragon, left Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday, arriving in Beijing on Wednesday morning. SAA - named Africa's best airline for the ninth year running in the 2011 Skytrax World Airline Awards - will operate the Johannesburg-Beijing route non-stop three times a week using its Airbus A340-600 long-haul aircraft.