US pop star Madonna was expected to arrive in impoverished Malawi on Sunday, airport officials said, to file documents allowing her to adopt a second child.

An official at Kamuzu international airport, some 20 kilometres from the capital Lilongwe, said a private jet carrying the Material Girl and her entourage would arrive around 4pm local time (2pm GMT).

"That's the only information we have...she is coming in through Dakar (in Senegal) to Lilongwe," the official, who declined to be named, told AFP.

Madonna wants to adopt three-year-old Mercy James from an orphanage in southern Malawi, according to a court official. The singer had spotted her during her first visit to Malawi, in 2006.

Madonna will reportedly be travelling with her first adopted child, David Banda, a year after finalising the adoption process.

His biological father, Yohane Banda, told AFP Sunday he would be allowed to see his son for the first time in three years.

"I have been told by officials of Raising Malawi (a charity established by the singer after the adoption) that I will see my son. I am excited about it," Banda (34) said in a telephone interview.

He said he last saw David in 2006, when he also met Madonna at the high court where she was filing documents for the adoption.

The pop singer was accused of fast-tracking the process because Malawi does not have inter-country adoption legislation.

Madonna was quoted in local reports saying she wanted David "to stay connected to his Malawi culture... to keep him closely connected to his cultural heritage."

Her lawyer, Alan Chinula, will be filing adoption papers for Mercy James on Monday in Lilongwe high court.

AFP