LanAlemania From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 189 posts, RR: 0 Posted (8 years 7 months 1 week 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 2586 times:
Hi!
I've got some questions about aviation in North Korea which occurred while I was reading an Air Koryo timetable:
1. How is Air Koryo in general doing? In their timetable, they only state VERY few scheduled flights from Pyongyang to Beijing, Bangkok and Khabarovsk - no domestic flights or something similar. Does anybody have any information available about their route network (wasn't able to find anything in the internet)?
2. Are there any other passenger/cargo airlines serving Pyongyang on a scheduled base?
Swissgabe From Switzerland, joined Jan 2000, 5265 posts, RR: 36 Reply 1, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 2435 times:
1.
I don't think anyone knows how JS is doing. They are fully state ownd and also in charge of airport operations in the DPRK.
Scheduled flights at the moment are:
FNJ-BJS vv. on day 2 and 6 with IL6
FNJ-KHV vv. on day 1 and 5 with TU3
FNJ-SHE vv. on day 3 and 6 with TU3
FNJ-VVO vv. on day 4 and 7 with TU3
Destinations such as BKK, MFM etc. are now only on charter basis. Ops into SXF and SVO stopped several years ago. During the last few years, there where several Air Koryo planes in ZRH, LUX and other airports in Europe.
2.
There are seasonal flights (mainly during summer) with China Northern or China Northwest, mainly flying PEK-FNJ or PEK-SHE-FNJ vv.
Last year, Asiana and Korean Air operated charter flights (partly loaded in CRS)
3.
yes
cheers
gabriel
Smooth as silk - Royal Orchid Service /// Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens - Springbok
BrightCedars From Belgium, joined Nov 2004, 1279 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 2404 times:
Wow! It really gets busy on Saturdays out there! Any connecting traffic between BJS and SHE via FNJ that day?
More seriously, how big is FNJ (I guess that's Pyong Yang; there's not hover hint on that code). Does it have jetways? How many runways? How long?
And what about the fleet of JS - by the way: was their name always Air Koryo? Didn't they have a 747 of some kind or other Western built things at one point in time?
Swissgabe From Switzerland, joined Jan 2000, 5265 posts, RR: 36 Reply 3, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 2373 times:
If not mistaken, FNJ has two runways. There are NO jetways. Check out the Photo Database, there are few pics of Pyongyang Sunan Airport.
Till a few years ago, the airline was known as Chosonminhang (which means something like Korean Airways in Korean). I highly doubt that JS had any western aircraft since the 50s.
Smooth as silk - Royal Orchid Service /// Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens - Springbok
PanAm747 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4242 posts, RR: 9 Reply 5, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 2207 times:
According to "Airlines Coding & Airports Decoding" by EPS Aviation Productions, Pyongyang is indeed FNJ (ZKPY). Good call!!
There's also a short chapter on North Korea in the book "The World's Most Dangerous Places" - interesting (if not a bit depressing) reading. Accoridng to authors Robert Young Pelton and Coskun Aral, "North Korea's a damn difficult place to get around. Number one, there aren't any cars (bicycles were even illegal in many areas until the early 1990's). Western tourists can only visit selected areas of the country and only under the chaperoned and watchful eye of a government guide". Sounds like that would put an end to any kind of domestic flights, huh?
Pan Am:The World's Most Experienced Airline - P(oor) S(ailor's) A(irline): San Diego's Hometown Airline-Catch Our Smile!
Planenutz From United States of America, joined Dec 1999, 1267 posts, RR: 11 Reply 6, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 2084 times:
When I visited Beijing last May I endeavored to visit the Air Koryo office at Capital Airport. Its located upstairs above check-in behind the restaurants. When I arrived at PEK (on a Monday afternoon) the office was closed. The agent at the neighboring MIAT office said that its only open for a couple of hours prior to their flights. When I departed PEK, (on a Friday afternoon) the office was open, however, there wasn't a single person behind the counter or anywhere else in the office for that matter. The door was propped open and I walked in, waited for about 20 min, still no one. There were no timetables, literature, or other materials for the taking, only a huge wall mural of some nature scence containing a waterfall and trees. They have a ticket office in central Beijing thats probably a bit more helpful.
PanAm747 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4242 posts, RR: 9 Reply 9, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1931 times:
Kim Jong-Il, (the "Dear Leader"), son of the late Kim Il-Sung, (the "Great Leader") is indeed the only world leader who has never been in an airplane. He is truly paranoid and fearful of flying. It has even been suggested that the massive explosion in the city where the Dear Leader's train had JUST passed was an attempt at killing him...but in the most secretive country on the planet, who knows?
Pan Am:The World's Most Experienced Airline - P(oor) S(ailor's) A(irline): San Diego's Hometown Airline-Catch Our Smile!
Lan_Fanatic From Chile, joined Sep 2001, 1071 posts, RR: 7 Reply 10, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 1884 times:
I don't know if you guys thought the same when you looked at those pictures Phaeton posted. I don't know if it is the fog, or what...but those pictures seem to be taken like 30 years ago.
Seb146 From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 9914 posts, RR: 17 Reply 11, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 1782 times:
Is it me or do pics from North Korea, Mongolia, and Central and Western China seem bleek, cold and brown? Someone posted some other pics from North Korea on this site and they seemed to include the same color scheme.
Airevents From Germany, joined Jan 2002, 825 posts, RR: 3 Reply 12, posted (8 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 1723 times:
Good morning,
I was in Pyonyang in September, for just a week, and although this is going more into the trip report section, I will answer it here. I flew Beijing Pyongyang on Air Koryo IL62 and the same routing back one week later, with another IL62 though. I wanted to rebook to a Tu134 flight leaving for Beijing at the same time, but that was somehow impossible. The Beijing schedule is the main link of Pyongyang to the outside world really and besides the IL62 on the schedules, they send whatever aircraft they have on additional flights.
Swissgabe was perfectly right about the scheduled flights.
Pyongyang Airport is actually not unpleasant, no jetways, you are taken the 300m to the terminal by bus. What surprised me most was the fact that photography was not a big deal, I took quite a few pictures. When entering the country, you are thouroughly searched for anything that might pose danger to the leader or the Republic itself, like mobile phones e.g. On the way out, it was very relaxed. Inflight service at Air Koryo was excellent, hot meal and lots of things on the 1:15 flight. Plus an excellent atmosphere onboard, typical eastern airliner style mixed with North Korean music, perfect.
The page www.korea-dpr.com/airkoryo.htm has limited info about the airline.
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