PYONGYANG, North Korea (Reuters) — North Korea’s national airline, Air Koryo has started flying a new route to Dandong, China.
A video given to Reuters by North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, which Reuters cannot independently verify, showed Air Koryo’s plane landing at Pyongyang’s Sunan Airport on Tuesday (March 28) and flight attendants greeting tourists walking out of the plane.
KCNA said flights will operate twice a week – every Tuesday and Friday, between its capital Pyongyang and China’s border city of Dandong. The flight time between the two cities is less than one hour.
Most of Air Koryo’s scheduled international flights are to China. It also flies to Russia’s Far East.
Last year, China said it would limit Air Koryo’s operations after one of its aircraft made an emergency landing in a northeastern Chinese city, telling the airline to improve training and maintenance.
Few North Koreans are allowed to travel outside their isolated country.