North Korean passenger jet flies to Shanghai for the first time in five years
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A North Korean passenger plane flew to Shanghai for the first time in five years on Sunday, aviation data shows.
The Tu-204-300 (tail number P-632) operated by DPRK flag carrier Air Koryo touched down at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at around 10:10 p.m. KST on Sunday after a roughly two-hour flight (JS157) from Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, according to records from Flightradar24 and FlightAware.
The jet didn’t stay in Shanghai for long, departing back to North Korea at 2 a.m. and landing in Pyongyang around 4 a.m.
NK News confirmed the flight’s arrival and departure with Pudong International Airport’s automated information service.
The aircraft was originally scheduled to take off from Shanghai at 11:45 p.m. KST but was delayed “for some reason,” according to the airport’s information desk. Airport officials were unable to confirm to NK News whether the flight was part of a revival of the Shanghai route or a one-off chartered trip.
The Sunday flight marks the first time an Air Koryo aircraft has flown to Shanghai since Dec. 27, 2019, when an An-148 carried out the airline’s last known trip to the Chinese city before the pandemic grounded North Korean planes, according to the NK Pro flight tracker.
Flights to Shanghai were historically not listed on Air Koryo’s website as they were considered chartered flights like those to Macau. But they nonetheless saw regular operation every Thursday and Saturday in 2019, according to Flightradar24.
The Tu-204-300, built in 1993 and acquired by North Korea in 2007, last flew to Shanghai on Oct. 31, 2019. It is one of just two Tu-204s in Air Koryo’s fleet, along with a newer Tu-204-100B (tail number P-633), that have operated routes to Beijing, Shanghai and other destinations in China.
The plane has flown to Vladivostok multiple times in the past year, largely to transport Russian tourists to Pyongyang.
Notably, the two Tu jets are the only planes exempt from a ban on Air Koryo planes landing at European airports, imposed due to difficulties verifying the airline’s adherence to international safety regulations.
But the Tu-204-300 is known to have experienced technical issues in the past, resulting in a forced landing in Pyongyang in 2017 and an engine catching fire midair the year prior.
The flight to Shanghai follows Air Koryo’s resumption of regular air service to Beijing and Shenyang in Aug. and Dec. 2023, respectively, with the airline’s China-bound flights nearly quadrupling to 166 trips in 2024 from just 44 last year, according to NK Pro flight data.
Edited by Bryan Betts
https://www.nknews.org/2024/12/north-korean-passenger-jet-flies-to-shanghai-for-the-first-time-in-five-years/
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