The Story of

AIR KORYO

《朝鲜高丽航空公司》

 

                                                            Story, News and Translation: Gan Yung Chyan

                                                           

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, known as North Korea, became a Republic with Soviet assistance in 1948. All civil and government air services were operated by Aeroflot until 1950 when the Soviet Union and North Korea formed a joint venture airline known as SOKOA that operated until 1956 with An-2, Il-12 and Li-2 aircraft from Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport.

A restructure of the airline allowed North Korea to purchase the Soviet share of SOKOA and the name Civil Aviation Administration of Korea (CAAK) or locally known as UKAMPS was adopted. Il-14 aircraft joined the collection of veteran airliners on the sparse route network following a few years later by the An-24s.

In 1967, the Air Force took control of CAAK and converted it into a paramilitary airline using the name of Chosonminhang and operated under the control of the Air Force Transport Regiment. Selected aircraft were painted in the North Korean colours of red and white and continued to operate their small route network mainly to Beijing, Moscow and Khabarovsk. The Pyongyang-Beijing route was inaugurated in the 1960s to coincide with North Korea's national policy to align with communist nations of the world.

In the 1970s, CAAK began to operate to two new European cities, East Berlin and Sofia via Moscow. The national airline continued to serve East Berlin in 1991 after East Germany was unified with West Germany due to consistent large passenger load factor from the eastern side.

In 1975, the first of two Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft were delivered to Chosonminhang. A Tu-154B aircraft joined the fleet in 1979 and the fourth Tupolev aircraft was a Tu-154B-2, which arrived in 1982. The first three aircraft 551/552/553 were delivered with CAAK titles without the country's registration letter of 'P'. This is thought to have been added in the latter part of 1979.

Initially, the Tu-154 passenger planes were used on the regular non-scheduled flights to Berlin and later to Prague and then soon replaced the Il-18 aircraft on the prime route to Moscow via Irkutsk and Novosibirsk.

In late 1991, Chosonminhang started daily cargo flights to Niigata from Pyongyang. It carried Japanese mushrooms matsutake and other high-value produce from Niigata where many Koreans live. In the same year, charter flights to Nagoya, which used an Antonov An-24 cargo plane, were opened after an air agreement was signed with the Japanese counterpart. It provides leeway for North Korea's barter economy and tourism to develop.

In December 1992, an air agreement with the Thai civil aviation authority allowed Chosonminhang to plan flights to its South East Asia's first destination, Bangkok.

In 1993, Chosonminhang or CAAK was renamed as Air Koryo and began to introduce new Ilyushin and Tupolev aircraft such as Il-62, Il-76 and Tu-154. With the introduction of the Il-62, a fortnight, regular Pyongyang-Bangkok air service was opened on 5 April 1993 and it operates flights to Bangkok initially in Tuesday evenings. Later, the service was scheduled to morning 10 am to provide convenience for charter air tours from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore via Bangkok. The Tu-154 passenger planes are restricted to schedule flights twice weekly to Beijing and once weekly to Sofia via Moscow until 1997. Tu-134 and Tu-154 passenger flights serve Bangkok, Beijing, Macau and Moscow.

In May 1993, a treaty was signed with Air China for connection flights from Beijing and later on with Singapore Airlines. This means that passengers returning from or bounding for Pyongyang can be rerouted on either airline giants' flights from Beijing and Bangkok. Air Koryo serves Beijing with thrice-weekly cargo and passenger flights.

In the same year, Air Koryo's cargo division performed another great mission. This time, 2 Il-76 freighter planes and 3 Tu-154 aircraft carried North Korean textiles and polished diamonds to Maatstricht and Antwerp as a result of several Dutch firms signing agreements with the DPRK textile industry for new production of clothes and accessories in Europe.

On 8 August 1997, Air Koryo signed a landmark agreement with Korean Air in Bangkok which allows commercial airlines of North Korea and South Korea to overfly each other's territories from 3 April 1998. As a result, CAAK could obtain about US$5 m from overflight fees per year and Air Koryo operated a cargo flight to Osaka via Beijing with DHL Worldwide Express. In December 1997, Air Koryo signed an air agreement with Taiwan on flights to Taipei.

One of the latest flight destinations of Air Koryo is Vladivostok after direct flights to Khabarovsk was terminated in October 1997. The latest charter flight destination is Seoul in 2000 when it organises three charter flights to reunite North Korean families with their southern relatives. In April 2000, Air Koryo commences scheduled flights to Shenyang, the provincial capital of Jilin, China. Air Koryo is the first international airline to fly charter flights to Yangyang in July 2002.

Air Koryo's livery is communist red and Korean blue horizontal stripes applied along the windows of its planes and its logo is a graceful crane in flight towards the sky initially on its tail. In 2000, the crane logo was moved to the front of the English and Korean titles of the airline. In place is the national flag logo of CAAK, the national flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Three versions of Air Koryo’s non-official onboard magazine, D.P.R. of Korea, Korea Today and Korea Tour are available. The airline has interline agreements with at least 6 international airlines which include Vladivostok Air, Aeroflot, Air China and Singapore Airlines.

Charter international flight destinations over the years: Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris, Geneva, Harare, Karachi, Teheran, Almaty, Zurich, Brussels, Antwerp, Maatstricht, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Shanghai, Seoul, Niigata, Nagoya, Yangyang (since 21 July 2002). Charter domestic flight destinations: Nampo, Wonsan, Najin, Sariwon, Mt Paektu and Tumangang. All scheduled destinations, except Beijing, are irregularly served.

With the US’ uplift of ban on sales of Boeing planes and plane engine parts to the DPRK, Air Koryo plans to open flights to Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in the future and raise its inflight and aircraft maintenance services. Meanwhile, the graceful crane can be seen awaiting passengers in the airports of Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Macau, Moscow, Shenyang, Vladivostok, and Khabarovsk (since May 2002) regularly to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

 

 

AIR KORYO 朝鲜高丽航空公司

______________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

北朝鲜在苏联的协助下于1948年正式建设朝鲜人民民主主义共和国。该国的民航服务由亚叻佛夫苏联航空公司提供直到1950年，一家苏朝合资的苏朝民航SOKOA成立为止。此公司拥有伊尔-12、安特罗夫-20及利尔-2型客机，提供从平壤飞往莫斯科的民航服务。后来，伊尔-14及安特罗夫-24型客机的加入促使苏朝民航易名为朝鲜民航局。1967年，该国的空军掌管朝鲜民航局而民航服务的责任归于朝鲜民航，北朝鲜的第一家官方航空公司。它运用其机队开辟从平壤飞往北京、莫斯科及卡巴罗夫斯特的定期航班。1970年代，朝鲜民航更拓展服务范围，提供莫斯科-东柏林及莫斯科-索非亚民航服务。1975至1982年之间，它引进了数架宽体型图波列夫-154客机提供长途包机与定期民航服务。新航线包括平壤-伊尔库斯特-莫斯科、平壤-诺佛夫斯柏斯特-莫斯科、平壤-东柏林及平壤-莫斯科-布拉格航线。1991年，它开始运用安特罗夫-24型货运机定供平壤-新泻的磨姑货运服务，让远在日本的朝鲜人有机会把新鲜物产运给平壤售卖。1992年12月，北朝鲜与泰国民航局签署协议书让朝鲜民航开拓朝鲜至东南亚的航线。1993年，朝鲜民航朝着市场经济迈进。它改名为朝鲜高丽航空公司，易名高丽航空，拥有伊尔-62及-76与图波列夫-154型客机。伊尔-62型客机为高丽航空于1993年4月5号开辟了平壤直透曼谷的民航服务及曼谷至新、吉的连包机服务。图波列夫-154型客机则提供北京与莫斯科-索非亚的快捷服务。1993年，高丽航空与中国国际航空和新航签薯半官方备忘录，提供有效连航服务。这意为这乘客更容易经曼谷与北京飞往平壤。同年，高丽航空开拓至澳门、安特卫普及马赛芝市的民航、货运航线，载着钻石与衣料到欧洲制造厂及港澳朝资公司。1997年8月，高丽航空与南韩民航局签薯协议书，允许各方航空公司经对方领空便利直达欧洲、日本与美洲。如此一来，高丽航空更开始提供了北京首都国际机场与大阪关西机场的货运服务。1997年10月至2000年4月年间，该航空开始提供飞往海参葳、沈阳及汉城的直透航班服务。其中，平汉航班属韩朝亲属团圆性质。高丽航空目前无提供所有内陆及国际航班服务。有的只是飞往金刚山的组客包机服务与至北京定期一、两次与至曼谷每月两次的民航服务。接下来的几年内，由于美国取消了制裁行动，它期望有朝一日能开拓至吉隆坡、新加坡、香港等航线与提升现有机队和乘客服务。

 

Air Koryo's GSA/Booking address in Singapore:

Universal Travel Corporation Pte Ltd

101 Upper Cross Street, #B1-66, People's Park Centre, Singapore

Tel: 65-65333922. Fax: 65-65332562.

 

Air Koryo’s Official Web-site:

www.air-koryo.com  

 

Air Koryo Head Office:

Sunan District, Pyongyang, DPR Korea

 

Air Koryo Booking Office in Pyongyang:

Tongsong-dong, Central District, Pyongyang, DPR Korea

 

If you want to find Air Koryo's offices list, you may

take reference from following British personal web

page:

URL : http://hk.geocities.com/hkgalbert/jsoffice.htm