Air China indefinitely suspends North Korea flights

Star Alliance member Air China has indefinitely suspended flights to Pyongyang in North Korea and given no indication if it intends to resume services to the country.

China’s national flag carrier operated its last Beijing – Pyongyang service on 20 November 2017, citing poor demand.

The carrier, which added the year-round route in January 2008, converted the service to summer seasonal flights a year ago, operating two weekly flights instead of three.

According to Routesonline’s sister stream Airlineroute, schedule changes shows service was temporary suspended from 14 November, with no resumption date. Reservation for the 2018 summer season was also removed earlier this month.

Air China then operated one additional flight on 17 and 20 November carrying a high-level Chinese envoy. A statement to news agency Reuters from Air China said the flight to Pyongyang had been suspended because “business was not good”.

The decision to suspended flights to Pyongyang leaves national airline Air Koryo as the only airline offering scheduled flights to the country.

OAG data shows Air Koryo operates a five-weekly service to Beijing and a twice-weekly service to Shenyang Taoxian, Shanghai Pudong and Vladivostok International.

Air Koryo's route network (Q4 2017):

Air Koryo Q4 2017

David Casey

David Casey is Editor in Chief of Routes, the global route development community's trusted source for news and information.