Air Koryo

Beijing to Pyongyang with Air Koryo - kind staff. A passenger had some health issues and at Beijing airport a medical team waited and was informed about the problem. There was Korean cartoons and short movies. Food and drinks served was OK. Flight was were on time. Aircraft was clean.

There is no Air Koryo Business Lounge benefits if you take its red eye flights. The staff of VIP Lounge was in a hurry to get off work refusing me entering it at Pyongyang Airport, although it's not very late and only two fights would take off at night. Food and beverage of Business Class is as same as Economy Class. The beverage service is so poor that only has tea, coffee, beer, water and fruit soda. Cabin staff Chinese is fluent so communication in that language is smooth. However, they don't pay attention to safety and cabin service detail at all. No one required passengers should power off cellphone, they don't check seat belt and or ask to return your seat backs to the upright position, which is common sense. Cabin staff weren't willing to ask passengers if they need blankets, even if there are blankets in the plane. What made me surprise most is there was no food the whole plane and it only one drink for us! Overall, Business Class of Air Koryo is not worthy of its price. The only real distinction between Air Koryo Business Class and Economy Class are the cabin seats.     ⚑ Air Koryo Ranking

I make quite regular trips from Beijing Capital to Pyongyang Sunan, and I cannot reconcile with your latest reviews here!? I belief that safety requires staff to be able to communicate in the international English language, and that is still very poor for Air Koryo. None of us can truly speak for their maintenance, but from local standards in other industry this will be a continued concern for some persons. The food is best left alone which I now do - Air Koryo supply outbound and inbound flights from Pyongyang, and cuisine standards there are certainly not the best. I think many my fellow "foreign" travellers are more interested in flying Tupolev airplanes or checking if N Korea is really people say - best of luck with that. But this is not airline you would choose if there were more operators to choose. Guess that's not going to change in the near times!

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 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.

I flew PEK-FNJ at the start of my holiday in the DPRK. I had a bit of trepidation flying on North Korea's state airline but was pleasantly surprised. The Tupolev was smart and modern and the plane was new. We had a reasonable amount of space and the staff were smartly dressed and friendly. The food was a burger with a mystery meat inside which was not very nice and I did not finish it. The air ticket was part of my holiday package so I do not know what it cost.

I was flying from Beijing to Pyongyang with a Tupolev 204-300. The aircraft was in an excellent state and the service was very friendly. The flight departed and arrived in time.

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.

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 12-19 August 2014. Departed and arrived on time on both flights good FAs and great seats. Interesting airplane (TU204) and very likely the first and last time I fly a Russian built plane (not a lot operated where I spend most of my time). Flight to North-hard and bumpy landing. Back to Beijing was good - not so many turns and much smoother. Once we arrived in Pyongyang immigration took 10 mins and bags were delivered immediately. I'm glad it all went well.