Satellite images suggest North carrying out 'flurry' of passenger aircraft maintenance

A fleet of Air Koryo aircraft are seen on the tarmac at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Dec. 19, 2011. [AP/YONHAP]

Satellite images of North Korea’s largest airport show a “flurry of aircraft maintenance activity” on passenger planes operated by the regime's national carrier, according to a U.S.-based analysis website Tuesday.

The photographs of Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, taken by earth observation company Planet Labs, show that Air Koryo’s fleet of Russian and Ukrainian-built aircraft “have been cycled through maintenance hangars” since the beginning of this month, the Stimson Center’s 38 North said.

Most of Air Koryo’s aircraft were parked either to the east or west of the main runway at Sunan airport throughout the North’s self-imposed blockade on international travel during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But from May 8 to May 21, at least five out of 13 passenger aircraft owned by Air Koryo were photographed at Sunan’s maintenance area by Planet Labs.

“While Air Koryo aircraft have been in and out of the maintenance bay throughout the last twelve months, it is unusual that such a large number have been serviced in such a short period of time,” 38 North said.

Some of the aircraft that have undergone maintenance this past month, such as both of Air Koryo’s Tupolev Tu-204, are the company’s most modern aircraft and the mainstay of its China routes.

Another aircraft that was spotted in the maintenance areas is an Antonov An-148, which commonly flew the Pyongyang-Macau route but has also been sighted at Dalian, Beijing, Shenyang and Vladivostok.

According to 38 North, high-volume aircraft maintenance of this nature is “notable,” especially considering the return of China’s ambassador to Pyongyang and “rumors the country will reopen to some level of tourism in June,” which raise expectations “that passenger air service will resume in the near future.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]