Per the Chinese report 平壤-上海航线5月31日复航Pyongyang-Shanghai Resumes, Air Koryo has resumed FNJ-PVG service starting from May 31

The route runs on a twice-weekly rotation

JS157 FNJ 21:40 PVG 23:30
JS158 PVG 00:30 FNJ 03:20

According to China's leading flight data service provider VariFlight, JS operated 2 flights to PVG in this past April, and its FNJ-PVG was suspended during Oct 2017-Mar 2018, with a total of 23 flights operated for 2017

Hopefully, JS can be expected to open more services to destinations in China and beyond in the wake of DPRK's thawing ties with the outside world

Not great times...
Adding another gateway is probably somewhat important to Kim though. I’m sure he’d love to have his country seen as more international.

ahj2000 wrote:

Not great times...
Adding another gateway is probably somewhat important to Kim though. I’m sure he’d love to have his country seen as more international.

I don’t think times are gonna effect if ppl are going to NK or not

32andBelow wrote:

I don’t think times are gonna effect if ppl are going to NK or not

+ 1. My thoughts on this exactly.

mariner

I wonder if Kim would mind EK setting up a transpacific hub in FNJ.....
I bet there would be space...
This won't show up in OAG or any flight search, right? How do people even find it?

SCQ83 wrote:

SumChristianus wrote:

If North Korea is looking for a gateway to the rest of the world (other than China), DXB would make sense...

I've just pictured how amazing could be the face of "most" NK citizens seeing an A380 landing in Pyongyang

SumChristianus wrote:

I wonder if Kim would mind EK setting up a transpacific hub in FNJ.....
I bet there would be space...
This won't show up in OAG or any flight search, right? How do people even find it?

Now realistically speaking, would Air Koryo make some sense flying to Dubai? They used to serve KWI a few years ago to shuttle North Korean workers there; so maybe they have some plane able to fly to the GCC.

DXB is kind of the gateway to the rest of the world (Europe, Africa, Americas) and not only by EK. Also DXB is a hub for carriers from dodgy places; from Daallo or Juba Airlines to Kam Air or Kish Airlines. So Air Koryo would fit quite well in that mix.

If North Korea is looking for a gateway to the rest of the world (other than China), DXB would make sense. Not sure whether there is a business case for that, though.

I'm just surprised at the times as it will mean they have to staff FNJ in the middle of the night on nights this flight operates (or at least close a bit later in the evening than usual and open MUCH earlier). I can't imagine the 0320 arrival is very useful for the tour guides/minders who have to pick up the foreign tourists. Maybe all tourists will continue to by funneled onto the PEK flights and this flight is just for North Koreans and contractors.

The reason must be that they're trying to jam this flight in as "utilization flying" for when the Tu-204 that happens to be in service at the time would otherwise just be sitting at FNJ.

SCQ83 wrote:

SumChristianus wrote:

I wonder if Kim would mind EK setting up a transpacific hub in FNJ.....
I bet there would be space...
This won't show up in OAG or any flight search, right? How do people even find it?

Now realistically speaking, would Air Koryo make some sense flying to Dubai? They used to serve KWI a few years ago to shuttle North Korean workers there; so maybe they have some plane able to fly to the GCC.

DXB is kind of the gateway to the rest of the world (Europe, Africa, Americas) and not only by EK. Also DXB is a hub for carriers from dodgy places; from Daallo or Juba Airlines to Kam Air or Kish Airlines. So Air Koryo would fit quite well in that mix.

If North Korea is looking for a gateway to the rest of the world (other than China), DXB would make sense. Not sure whether there is a business case for that, though.

Interesting idea, but would India, etc. grant overflight rights?
Also does North Korea even have diplomatic relations with anyone other than China and Malaysia? UAE would be happy to take them, I'd guess, but I don't know if Koyro even has the range in their planes to range DXB.

drdisque wrote:

I'm just surprised at the times as it will mean they have to staff FNJ in the middle of the night on nights this flight operates (or at least close a bit later in the evening than usual and open MUCH earlier). I can't imagine the 0320 arrival is very useful for the tour guides/minders who have to pick up the foreign tourists. Maybe all tourists will continue to by funneled onto the PEK flights and this flight is just for North Koreans and contractors.

The reason must be that they're trying to jam this flight in as "utilization flying" for when the Tu-204 that happens to be in service at the time would otherwise just be sitting at FNJ.

I don't imagine a north korean airline manager is going to care or get any sort of feedback when he schedules his employees to work at 0300.

drdisque wrote:

I'm just surprised at the times as it will mean they have to staff FNJ in the middle of the night on nights this flight operates (or at least close a bit later in the evening than usual and open MUCH earlier). I can't imagine the 0320 arrival is very useful for the tour guides/minders who have to pick up the foreign tourists. Maybe all tourists will continue to by funneled onto the PEK flights and this flight is just for North Koreans and contractors.

The reason must be that they're trying to jam this flight in as "utilization flying" for when the Tu-204 that happens to be in service at the time would otherwise just be sitting at FNJ.

Only thing is the service is operated by An-148 not Tu-204.

Then my only guess for the timing is gate and counter availability at PVG. This route will definitely not be used for tourists as the AN-148 doesn't have the space and facilities to separate the tourists from the North Korean pax.

SumChristianus wrote:

Also does North Korea even have diplomatic relations with anyone other than China and Malaysia? UAE would be happy to take them, I'd guess, but I don't know if Koyro even has the range in their planes to range DXB.

Yes, absolutely. North Korea has diplomatic relations with most countries. They have supplied a lot of labour to Africa, Europe and the Middle East for one. 24 countries have embassies in Pyongyang - China, Russia, Cuba, Laos etc are all there but so are: The UK, Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Czechia, Sweden, Brazil and Mongolia. Plenty of countries have embassies accredited to North Korea that are based in Beijing/Tokyo/Seoul and both France and Switzerland have “cooperation beaureaus” in the country.

North Korea has its own embassies in nearly 50 countries including Germany, Italy, Mexico and India. They aren’t as isolated as people think. Also is beneficial for them since they use diplomatic privilege to funnel money by less-than-scrupulous methods.

Air Koryo has flown to KWI before as mentioned so they must have some way of getting there. Warsaw would be my top pick of a new destination if they ever were able to fly into Europe. Dubai makes great sense as a destination because of its connectivity to Europe, Middle East and Africa - but who’d want to codeshare with Air Koryo? :p

drdisque wrote:

Then my only guess for the timing is gate and counter availability at PVG. This route will definitely not be used for tourists as the AN-148 doesn't have the space and facilities to separate the tourists from the North Korean pax.

Unless something has changed, tourists have always been able to book onto the Shanghai flights. It was presented as an option to me when I booked my trip there this year, but cost extra than flying from PEK.

dredgy wrote:

SumChristianus wrote:

Also does North Korea even have diplomatic relations with anyone other than China and Malaysia? UAE would be happy to take them, I'd guess, but I don't know if Koyro even has the range in their planes to range DXB.

Yes, absolutely. North Korea has diplomatic relations with most countries. They have supplied a lot of labour to Africa, Europe and the Middle East for one. 24 countries have embassies in Pyongyang - China, Russia, Cuba, Laos etc are all there but so are: The UK, Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Czechia, Sweden, Brazil and Mongolia. Plenty of countries have embassies accredited to North Korea that are based in Beijing/Tokyo/Seoul and both France and Switzerland have “cooperation beaureaus” in the country.

North Korea has its own embassies in nearly 50 countries including Germany, Italy, Mexico and India. They aren’t as isolated as people think. Also is beneficial for them since they use diplomatic privilege to funnel money by less-than-scrupulous methods.

Air Koryo has flown to KWI before as mentioned so they must have some way of getting there. Warsaw would be my top pick of a new destination if they ever were able to fly into Europe. Dubai makes great sense as a destination because of its connectivity to Europe, Middle East and Africa - but who’d want to codeshare with Air Koryo? :p

drdisque wrote:

Then my only guess for the timing is gate and counter availability at PVG. This route will definitely not be used for tourists as the AN-148 doesn't have the space and facilities to separate the tourists from the North Korean pax.

Unless something has changed, tourists have always been able to book onto the Shanghai flights. It was presented as an option to me when I booked my trip there this year, but cost extra than flying from PEK.

P-633 and P-632 are both exempt from the EU blacklist. The services to KWI operated by the larger Tu-204-100 were routing via Islamabad where as the Tu-204-300 flew direct.

drdisque wrote:

Then my only guess for the timing is gate and counter availability at PVG. This route will definitely not be used for tourists as the AN-148 doesn't have the space and facilities to separate the tourists from the North Korean pax.

For god's sake. I don't want to appear to be an apologist for a country with a pretty disastrous human rights situation but where on God's once green earth did you get the idea that tourists and North Koreans are separated on Air Koryo flights?! What planet are you on?

From the onboard videos I've seen, it's pretty clear to me that the tourists are always seated in one part of the cabin (I think the front) and the North Koreans are usually in the back.

Not that you can't do that on the AN-148, but the smaller plane gives you few options. I also wonder if the AN-148 has galleys big enough to serve Koryo Burgers

drdisque wrote:

From the onboard videos I've seen, it's pretty clear to me that the tourists are always seated in one part of the cabin (I think the front) and the North Koreans are usually in the back.

Not that you can't do that on the AN-148, but the smaller plane gives you few options. I also wonder if the AN-148 has galleys big enough to serve Koryo Burgers

On my two flights on Air Koryo between PEK and FNJ I was seated next to two North Korean citizens both times. But except for handing me my drink and my burger there was no interaction.