The project is located about 40 kilometers southeast of Luanda, the capital of Angola. It is designed as an international hub airport in southwestern Africa and a base airport for Angola Airlines. The project started planning and design in 2005 and construction began in July 2007. Due to funding and other reasons, the progress of the project was slow. In order to complete the project as soon as possible, the government of Angola has listed the Luanda New International Airport project as a national strategic priority project and plans to seek financing support from Chinese financial
institutions. In June 2016, President dos Santos of Angola twice invited the main leaders of AVIC International Engineering Company to Angola for consultations on the follow-up construction of the project. In September 2016, the government of Angola issued a presidential decree awarding the follow-up engineering contract of the project to the engineering company. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Chinese Embassy in Angola, and China International Contractors Association have provided timely guidance, effective coordination, and support for AVIC International Engineering to undertake the project. In February 2017, AVIC International Engineering and Anfang officially signed the follow-up engineering general contracting contract for the project.