North Korean airline will fly Seoul and Pyeongyang route

For the first time in history, a North Korean airline will fly to a South Korean airport for a commercial purpose.
The Ministry of Construction and Transportation said yesterday that chartered commercial flights between Seoul and Pyeongyang will begin Monday, starting with a flight from Air Koryo of North Korea that will carry tourists from Incheon International Airport to Sunan Airport in Pyeongyang.
About 2,000 tourists will be flown to Pyeongyang this year by chartered planes of North Korea’s Air Koryo and South Korea’s Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, the ministry said. An official there said there will be about 40 flights before the end of the year.
The flights will open civilian commercial air travel between the two capitals, the ministry said. There have previously been direct flights between the two capitals, but only in an official capacity for transporting South and North Korean officials for talks. There have been 31 Air Koryo flights and 43 flights by Korean Air and Asiana Airlines between the two capitals.
Pyonghwa Air Travel will operate the tours.
The travel agency was established earlier in the year by Pyonghwa Motors, which builds automobiles in the North. The carmaker is affiliated with the Unification Church.
The two Koreas do not yet have an aviation treaty, but are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The ministry said it will pursue a treaty with the North, which should be facilitated by the two countries’ membership in the international organization.

by Chang Chung-hoon