Air Koryo launches new route from NKorea to China

(28 Mar 2017) North Korea's national airline has started a new flight service to Dandong in China, bringing the total of its regularly scheduled international destinations to five.
The first Air Koryo flight of the new service touched down at Pyongyang's Sunan Airport on Tuesday.
The 73-seat Antonov AN148 was carrying a group of around 50 Chinese tourists.
The flight time between Dandong, right on China's border with North Korea, and Pyongyang is only approximately 50 minutes.
The Pyongyang-Dandong service is currently scheduled to operate twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Air Koryo's regular scheduled international flights recently have been to Beijing, Shenyang, Shanghai, and Vladivostok.
The North Korean flag carrier used to put on occasional flights to other destinations, but sanctions have led to some countries like Kuwait and Malaysia stopping Air Koryo flights.
International airline rating organisation SkyTrax drew attention to Air Koryo in 2015 when it awarded it just one star, the only SkyTrax one star in the world.
But Air Koryo has also been a magnet for flight enthusiasts who travel to North Korea to take trips in its vintage Russian aircraft.
And Air Koryo does have newer Russian planes, which started service in 2008.

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