Air Koryo

This article is about North Korea's flag carrier airline. For South Korea's flag carrier airline, see Korean Air.

Air Koryo
고려항공
An Air Koryo Tupolev Tu-204-100B taking off from Beijing Capital International Airport in October 2019
IATA ICAO Callsign
JS[1] KOR[1] AIR KORYO
Founded21 September 1955; 68 years ago (1955-09-21)
(as Korean Airways)
HubsPyongyang International Airport
Fleet size20
Destinations4
Parent companyNational Aviation Administration of the DPRK[2]
HeadquartersRyongbung-ri, Sunan District, Pyongyang, North Korea
Key peopleAn Pyong-chil (Director of the General Bureau of Civil Aviation)
Websitewww.airkoryo.com.kp
Air Koryo
Chosŏn'gŭl
Hancha
Revised RomanizationGoryeo Hanggong
McCune–ReischauerKoryŏ Hanggong

Air Koryo (Korean: 고려항공; Hancha: 高麗航空; MR: Koryŏ Hanggong) is North Korea’s flag carrier and only commercial airline.[3] It is state-owned and controlled by the North Korean air force.[3] Headquartered in Sunan-guyŏk, Pyongyang,[4] it operates domestic and international routes – on a regular schedule only to Beijing, Shenyang, and Vladivostok[5][6][7] – from its hub at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport.[8] It also operates flights on behalf of the North Korean government, with one of its aircraft serving as North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un's personal plane.[9][10][11][12] Its fleet consists of Ilyushin and Tupolev aircraft from the Soviet Union and Russia, and Antonovs from Ukraine.

Air Koryo’s history can be traced to the founding of the Soviet–North Korean Airline (SOKAO) in 1950.[13] Following the Korean War, in 1955, the airline was reorganized as Korean Airways and started domestic and international routes to other communist Eastern Bloc states in Asia and Europe.[14] Another reorganization followed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and in 1993, the airline adopted its current name, Air Koryo.[15] Due to its aging fleet of Soviet aircraft and related safety and maintenance concerns, Air Koryo was banned in the European Union between 2006 and 2020, when it was allowed to resume operations into the EU with their newly acquired Tu-204 aircraft.[16] During the rule of Kim Jong Un, Air Koryo also started branching out into commercial sectors beyond aviation, such as ground transportation and consumer goods.[17] The COVID-19 pandemic caused Air Koryo to suspend regular operations, with no scheduled international flights between 2020 and 2023.[18]

  1. ^ a b IATA 2023.
  2. ^ "Kim Jong Un suggests restoring inter-Korean hotlines in early October". NK News. 29 September 2021. Archived from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b United Nations Panel of Experts 2014.
  4. ^ "Contact Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine." Air Koryo. Retrieved on 6 August 2009. "Democratic People's Republic of Korea P'yongyang – Head office Air Koryo Sunan District P'yongyang"
  5. ^ Zwirko 2023.
  6. ^ "Time Table". Air Koryo. 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  7. ^ Sokolin 2023b.
  8. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 27 March 2007. p. 59.
  9. ^ Morris & Smith 2018.
  10. ^ O'Carroll 2019.
  11. ^ Petchenik 2020.
  12. ^ Eiselin, Stefan (13 May 2014). "Kim Jong-un hat seinen eigenen Jet" [Kim Jong-un has his own jet]. aerotelegraph.com (in German). Aerotelegraph AGB. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  13. ^ Davies 1997, p. 534.
  14. ^ World Airlines Survey 1961, p. 512.
  15. ^ Haynes 2020.
  16. ^ "The EU Air Safety List". European Commission for Transport. European Commission. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  17. ^ O'Carroll 2017.
  18. ^ "North Korea airline flies first international flight since Covid". BBC News. 22 August 2023. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.