Air Koryo () is the
state-owned national airline of
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
, headquartered in
Sunan-guyŏk,
Pyongyang. Based at
Pyongyang International Airport (
IATA: FNJ),
it operates international scheduled and charter services to points in
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
.
History
Early years
In early 1950, SOKAO (Soviet–Korean Airline), ) was established as a joint North Korean-
Soviet venture to connect
Pyongyang with
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
.
Regular flights began that same year.
Services were suspended during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, resuming in 1953 as Bureau of Civil Aviation Ministry of Transport of DPRK The state airline was then placed under the control of the Civil Aviation Administration of Korea (CAAK), starting operations on 21 September 1955 with
Lisunov Li-2,
Antonov An-2 and
Ilyushin Il-12
The Ilyushin Il-12 (NATO reporting name: Coach) was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.
Design and development
The Il-12 was developed as a priva ...
aircraft.
Ilyushin Il-14
The Ilyushin Il-14 (NATO reporting name: Crate) was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950 in aviation, 1950, and entered service in 1954. The Il-14 was also manufactured in Eas ...
s and
Ilyushin Il-18s were added to the fleet in the 1960s.
Jet operations commenced in 1975 when the first
Tupolev Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...
was delivered for service from
Pyongyang to
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
,
East Berlin and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. Because the Tu-154 had insufficient range, the aircraft refueled at
Irkutsk and
Novosibirsk.
Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...
s and
An-24
The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Ir ...
s were also delivered to start domestic services. The Tu-154 fleet was increased at the start of the 1980s, and the first
Ilyushin Il-62 was delivered in 1982 (two of these aircraft are used in VIP configuration), allowing CAAK to offer a direct non-stop service to Moscow for the first time, as well as serving
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
and
Belgrade.
Expansion
The end of the
Cold War and the
collapse of communism in
Eastern Europe saw a vast reduction in the number of international services offered. CAAK, re-branded as Air Koryo in March 1992 and in 1993, ordered three
Ilyushin Il-76 freight aircraft to carry cargo to and from its destinations in
China and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
Air Koryo purchased a Tupolev
Tu-204-300 aircraft in December 2007 and another in March 2010 to replace its aging international fleet. With the
Tu-204, Air Koryo would be able to fly to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
[Air Koryo](_blank)
Asian Info, Retrieved 25 January 2015
Due to safety and maintenance concerns, Air Koryo was added to the
list of air carriers banned in the European Union
The European Union (EU) publishes a list of air carriers that are banned from entering the airspace of any of its member states, usually for failing to meet EU regulatory oversight standards. The first version of the list was published in 2006, ...
in March 2006. The
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
found evidence of serious safety deficiencies on the part of Air Koryo during
ramp inspections in France and Germany. Air Koryo persistently failed to address these issues during other subsequent ramp inspections performed by the EU under the
SAFA programme, pointing to blatant systemic safety deficiencies at Air Koryo operations. The airline failed to reply to an inquiry by the
French Civil Aviation Authority regarding its safety operations, pointing to a lack of transparency or communication on the part of Air Koryo. The plan by Air Koryo for corrective action, presented in response to France's request, was found to be inadequate and insufficient. The EC also held that North Korean authorities did not adequately oversee the
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hi ...
, which it was obliged to do under the
Chicago Convention
The Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating international air trave ...
. Therefore, on the basis of the common criteria,
[Fly Well portal](_blank)
(Which contains links to the common air transport policy), ''European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
'', 22 March 2006 the Commission assessed that Air Koryo did not meet the relevant safety standards.''
[Commission Regulation (EC) No 474/2006 of 22 March 2006](_blank)
(PDF-file), ''European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
'', 22 March 2006''
In September 2009, Air Koryo ordered a further example of the Tupolev Tu-204-300 aircraft and a single Tupolev Tu-204-100. Air Koryo was to receive its first of two Tupolev Tu-204-100B aircraft fitted with 210 seats. Flights to
Dalian, China, were added to the Air Koryo schedule. Also, twice weekly Tu-134 flights from Pyongyang and direct services from Pyongyang to
Shanghai Pudong were inaugurated with a two weekly service on JS522 and returning on JS523 in 2010.
In March 2010, Air Koryo was allowed to resume operations into the EU with their Tu-204 aircraft, which were fitted with the necessary equipment to comply with mandatory international standards. Currently, the Tu-204 is the only aircraft Air Koryo operates that is allowed into EU airspace.
In April 2011, Air Koryo launched its first services to Malaysia with the inauguration of flights from Pyongyang to
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, sub ...
. The flights operated twice a week utilizing the Tu-204, but were cancelled in mid-2017 due to sanctions imposed resulting from the
poisoning murder of Kim Jong-nam at
Kuala Lumpur International Airport by suspected North Korean agents.
In 2011, Air Koryo also inaugurated services to
Kuwait City, being operated weekly by Tu-204 aircraft. The services operate during peak travel season – April to October.
In 2012, Air Koryo resumed flights to
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, sub ...
but ceased the service in 2014 along with its expansion into
Harbin, China. In 2012, Juche Travel Services, a company operating tours to North Korea, launched "aviation enthusiast" tours using chartered Air Koryo aircraft, which offered visitors the chance to fly on every type of Air Koryo aircraft within North Korea, the Mil-17, An-24, Tu-134, Tu-154, and Il-62. The international services were operated by
An-148
The Antonov An-148 ( ua, Антонов Ан-148) is a regional jet designed and built by Antonov of Ukraine. Development of the aircraft was started in the 1990s, and its maiden flight took place on 17 December 2004. The aircraft completed its ...
, Tu-154, or Tu-204.
In 2017, during the rule of North Korean Chairman
Kim Jong-un, there were signs that Air Koryo was branching out into commercial sectors beyond
aviation, providing goods and services as diverse as petrol stations, taxis, tobacco, soft drinks, and tinned
pheasant
Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...
meat.
Destinations
Scheduled services are only operated from
Pyongyang to
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
Chongjin
Chŏngjin (; ) is the capital of North Korea's North Hamgyong Province (함경북도) and the country's third largest city. It is sometimes called the ''City of Iron''.
History
Prehistory
According to archaeological findings near the lower ...
,
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
,
Samjiyon,
Shenyang, and
Vladivostok; additional destinations not listed on their website but showing up elsewhere as charters or seasonal charter services are also included.
The first regular
charter flights
Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline).
Regulation
Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...
between North Korea and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
began in 2003. The first Air Koryo flight operated by a Tu-154 touched down at Seoul's
Incheon International Airport
Incheon International Airport (IIA; ) (sometimes referred to as Seoul–Incheon International Airport) is the largest airport in South Korea. It is the primary airport serving the Seoul Capital Area and one of the largest and busiest airports ...
. Air Koryo operated 40 return services to
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, along with flights into
Yangyang
Yangyang County (''Yangyang-gun'') is in Gangwon Province, South Korea. The county is located in the northeast of the country in Gangwon-do. Its population is about 31,000 (2004).
The Yangyang area is well known for its pine mushrooms (''son ...
and
Busan in South Korea. Inter-Korean charters from Hamhung's
Sondok Airport to
Yangyang International in South Korea began in 2002. Currently, there are no inter-Korean flights, due to laws in both countries. In 2014, Air Koryo operated a series of services to Seoul Incheon International Airport with Tu-204 and An-148 aircraft for the
Asian Games.
Air Koryo operated an airline interline partnership with
Aeroflot (
SkyTeam) on services radiating from
Vladivostok and
Pyongyang until 2017 when it was forced to close the agreement due to newly imposed sanctions.
Fleet
Current fleet
Air Koryo operates the following fleet :
Tupolev Tu-204
The first Tupolev Tu-204-300 for Air Koryo was officially handed over to the carrier on 27 December 2007, and was ferried from
Ulyanovsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...
to Pyongyang. It has been fitted out with 16 business class seats and the remaining 150 seats are economy. This was the first Tupolev Tu-204-300 to be exported from Russia. The Tu-204 aircraft are currently scheduled on all international flights out of Pyongyang. With the arrival of the new aircraft, a new seasonal route to Singapore was introduced and the resumption of the Pyongyang-Bangkok route commenced in 2008. Its first revenue-earning flight was made on 8 May 2008. Air Koryo operates another version of the Tu-204 jet, a Tu-204-100B, which they took delivery of on 4 March 2010. The Tu-204-300 is a shortened version of the Tu-204-100B. It started operating scheduled services on 5 March 2010. On 30 March 2010, the two Tupolev Tu-204 have been given the rights to operate into the European Union.
The two Tu-204 remain the only planes the airline is allowed to operate on services to the EU.
Livery
The Air Koryo
livery consists of a white and grey fuselage and a horizontal red stripe along the windows dividing the upper and lower parts into white and grey respectively. The Korean name Air Koryo is painted above the windows and a
North Korean flag is painted on the vertical stabilizer.
Accidents and incidents
*On 30 June 1979, a Chosonminhang (predecessor to Air Koryo)
Tupolev Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...
B sustained landing gear and wing damage at
Budapest Ferihegy Airport in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. On final approach to Runway 31, the pilot realised the plane would undershoot and brought the nose of the plane up without applying power. The aircraft
stalled, and with a hard landing, the right landing gear collapsed, causing the right wing to strike the ground and sustain substantial wing structure damage. There were no fatalities, and aircraft P-551 was subsequently repaired and returned to service.
*On 1 July 1983,
a Chosonminhang Ilyushin Il-62M on a non-scheduled international passenger flight from
Pyongyang, North Korea
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population ...
(
Pyongyang Sunan International Airport
Pyongyang International Airport () , also known as the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, is the main airport serving Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. It is located in the city's Sunan District. and the only two foreign countries s ...
) to
Conakry,
Guinea (
Conakry International Airport) crashed in the
Fouta Djallon Mountains in Guinea. All 23 people on board died, and the aircraft was
written off.
*On 15 August 2006, an Air Koryo
Tupolev Tu-154B P-551 on flight JS152 had a
runway excursion
A runway excursion is a runway safety incident where an aircraft makes an inappropriate exit from the runway. Runway excursions include runway overruns, where an aircraft is unable to stop before it reaches the end of the runway. Runway excursion ...
while landing at
Beijing Capital International Airport. The aircraft has been stored since. Previously, in 1976, this aircraft had been taxiing when it was damaged by an Aeroflot Tu-104 that
lost control and crashed during takeoff.
*On 22 July 2016, an Air Koryo
Tupolev Tu-204-300 on a flight from
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to
Pyongyang, flight number JS151, made an emergency landing at
China's
Shenyang Airport due to reports of
smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-produc ...
in the cabin.
Oxygen masks were deployed due to an oxygen shortage.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Air Koryo Virtual Tours by DPRK 360Swiss Website of Air Koryoat the
Korean Friendship Association website Switzerland Delegation
Air Koryoat the
Aviation Safety Network
The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is an independent, nonprofit, international organization concerning research, education, advocacy, and communications in the field of aviation safety. FSF brings together aviation professionals from all sectors ...
Database
CAAK (predecessor)at the Aviation Safety Network Database
{{Authority control
Airlines banned in the European Union
Airlines of North Korea
Airlines established in 1954
Government-owned airlines