Air Koryo

A timewarp experience to say the least my flight from Beijing to Pyongyang was without hitch although you'd be hard pressed to find a team less interested in not only the well being but the safety of the passengers. For example when the purser was meant to make the safety announcement she looked around and saw a flight full of foreigners. As a result she actually shrugged rolled her eyes and sat right back down instead of briefing us. That it was a 30 year old Tupolev made that nagging feeling of 'I should probably listen to the safety announcement in case I jinx the flight' all the more pressing. That said the flight was a dream. The plane felt so heavy we barely realised we were touching down. The food was passable but the experience was unforgettable. Our seats tilted forwards rather than backwards. But for a 2 hour flight the sense of wonder far outweighs any actual discomfort. The stewardesses seemed more interested in reapplying thick strata of foundation and redoing their 60s overdone hairstyles than actually serving their passengers but the sight was certainly more entertaining than the sad slightly desperate propaganda movies played throughout the flight. My Air Koryo flight was a tremendous start to my trip.

Flew a total 8 sectors between Beijing Pyongyang Chongjin and Sondok onboard IL-62 IL-18 Tu-134 and Tu-204. Flights were all on time. Good English spoken onboard and a full meal service on 1.5 hours between Beijing to Pyongyang. All baggage delivered promptly with no delays. Planes are maintained well.

PEK-FNJ New TU204 seats relatively comfortable service friendly meal standard economy meal. Pyongyang Times and Korea Today newspapers which keep first-time DPRK visitor busy for the flight.

✅ Verified Review | Pyongyang to Beijing with hot/cold drinks and a hamburger which was adequate for length of flight. Very polite and welcoming service. Efficient check in and boarding. In flight entertainment limited to a video of recent North Korean hits. Pyongyang Times and Korea Today available to take on board.

PEK-FNJ return in the newer Tu-204. Check in at PEK is fast and agents seem blind to overweight/over size baggage (not mine but many others). The plane is clean and seats are comfortable with very good pitch. FA's served water apple juice and a North Korean greenish carbonated drink (soda) and the "hamburgers" that were brought in from FNJ. The plane departed on time and arrived into FNJ early. The plane was parked out on a taxiway and all pax were bussed to the terminal because the terminal is under construction. All arrivals and departures were handled in a temporary terminal and can only handle one flight at a time. Fortunately there are only 4 flights a day. All 7 immigration booths were open to handle about a plane load of 150 passengers. Luggage arrived about 20 minutes after we arrived at the terminal. Return FNJ-PEK was on the other Tu-204. Check in is quick and easy. I requested a window seat and got one. Again the terminal can only process one flight at a time. We had to wait in the public area while they handle an earlier flight to Vladivostok. Once the pax for that flight boarded the bus we cleared security and checked in. Check in is quick and again I requested a window seat with no problem. All pax then were bussed to the remote parking site and boarded the plane about 30 minutes before scheduled departure. The flight left 5 minutes early. Inflight experience was similar to the last flight PEK-PNJ. This flight was originally scheduled to use a smaller An-148 but was switched to a larger Tu-204-300. The plane was about 80% full.

PEK-FNJ-PEK in August 2015 and a seamless experience. Both flights on time. The seat was comfortable with sufficient legroom. The TU-204 aircraft is only a few years old and the interior was clean and tidy. There was a free drinks service including local beer. Their famous Air Koryo burger was a very tasty snack and I would have eaten another. Cabin crew were very courteous. All in all, a very pleasant experience.

PEK-FNJ on Tu-204. Check in quick and efficient at PEK. Clean new aircraft seating reasonably comfortable and adequate for 2 hour trip. Was served bland meal but no worse than many other economy class meals. Service was efficient but cold drinks offered and free English language DPRK "literature". Entertaining pre-take off video with politics included and inflight video showed happy images of the DPRK. Quite reasonable flight noticeable that all non-Koreans were in the front economy cabin - with the back cabin full of Koreans. Pre- take off and touchdown were marked by the happy playful music of an electronic band eerie but very much part of the DPRK experience. I was pleased to land given the safety reputation.

✅ Verified Review | Everything went smooth from Pyongyang to Beijing. Check-in staff were friendly. Seats were comfortable. Inflight entertainment could have been better. Food and drinks decent enough.

If you compare Air China with Air Koryo, there is a lot to be said for Air Koryo. New uniforms for the stewardesses, friendly faces, good beer, lousy food, clean plane, reasonable seats and good old-style music.

PEK-FNJ-PEK in business class on new Tu-204. The seats were quite spacious and airplane comfortable. I thought it really odd that they served a huge meal PEK-FNJ but only bread on the return. The flight attendants were decent enough though English skills were lacking. There was access to the Air China lounge at PEK T2. I didn't visit the lounge on the return at FNJ. On the flight PEK-FNJ there were no more seats so a North Korean teenager sat in the flight attendant jump seat for the whole flight. On the way back the security guard sat in the flight attendant jump seat and she sort of sat on the very edge of the same jump seat and held the wall for take off and landing. They also kept the curtains closed to the front of the aircraft which in the event of an evacuation would be a no-no because people couldn't see to get to the exit.