This has to be the most fascinating route we’ve seen in quite some time…
In this post:
Nordwind will fly from Russia to North Korea!
North Korea is of course known for being one of the most restrictive and secretive countries in the world. Currently, the country exclusively has service from national carrier Air Koryo, with flights operating within North Korea, as well as to nearby points in China and Russia.
Well, North Korea will be getting its first long haul flight, and first flight by a foreign carrier, in quite some time. As flagged by AeroRoutes, Russia’s Nordwind Airlines soon plans to operate the 3,984-mile flight from Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) to Pyongyang (FNJ).
As of now, this appears to be a one-time service for next week, with the outbound flight operating on July 27, and the return flight operating on July 29, with the following schedule:
N46107 Moscow to Pyongyang departing 7:00PM arriving 9:05AM (+1 day)
N46108 Pyongyang to Moscow departing 9:05AM arriving 11:45AM
Nordwind will use a Boeing 777-200ER for the route, in an all-economy layout, with 440 seats. The flight is bookable directly on Nordwind’s website.
The process of actually searching for flights there is quite entertaining.
This route was last served by a Russian carrier over 30 years ago, as Aeroflot used to operate this route once monthly, until 1994, with an Ilyushin Il-62. More recently, Air Koryo operated this route weekly, until 2001.
What on earth is the purpose of this flight?!
I think the ties between Russia and North Korea are obvious, as the countries are “friendly” to one another. However, one certainly wonders what the purpose of this flight is. As of now, it’s only scheduled once, with 24 hours of ground time, clearly in order to allow the crew to rest before returning.
Is this flight really expected to have any number of people onboard?
- North Korea accepts tourists in small batches (if at all), so one would think that an all-economy 777 offers way too much capacity
- This flight was scheduled fairly last minute, and with just one rotation, it’s presumably only serving travelers in one direction
- We know that North Korea is launching its new Wonsan seaside resort town, so I’m not sure if this is somehow connected to that, or what…
- If this were to accommodate some big group, you’d think this would just be operated as a charter flight, since it seems odd to even just put this flight on sale publicly
It seems much more likely to me that this route is about what’s being transported in the cargo hold, rather than in the cabin. This wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve seen a route like this. I mean, just look at the flights that we’ve seen Venezuela’s Conviasa operate, whether to Iran, or Russia, or Syria.
Bottom line
Nordwind Airlines will operate a flight between Moscow and Pyongyang, which is quite the rare sight. For now, the airline only plans to operate this flight once, with a 440-seat Boeing 777. I’m curious to see if the airline ends up scheduling more of these flights. While it won’t happen, I’d be fascinated to know just how full the cabin and cargo hold are…
What do you make of Nordwind flying to North Korea?
Gold. 6 carefully placed standard 12.5kg bars (reasonable 75kg each seat) is worth ca. $8.1MM PER PAX @ 444 seats is already ca. $600MM of gold, even without the hold…this is a very very very valuable flight…seems in line with the supposed Cristina K and Maduro gold runs…soon to be converted to the nearest crypto near you…
Would be interesting to see what the spy/reconnaissance satellites could detect upon its arrival in both locations..... Unless they taxi it to be offloaded in a hangar !
Shtholes stick together.
The North Korean Tourism Bureau: Now with one-way flights daily!
This flight is returning workers, soldiers, or the remains of soldiers from the Ukraine front.
I would imagine that is quite right
I believe this is to cater to the NK workers participating in Russian economy that has shortage of men due to the War. The two countries did some treaties to allow labor migration and closer participation in th eeconomy. The all Economy class plane supports this fact as well since there won't be any premium demand.
As for transport of military personnel and equipment, trains are always more efficient, cheaper and more reliable. There are...
I believe this is to cater to the NK workers participating in Russian economy that has shortage of men due to the War. The two countries did some treaties to allow labor migration and closer participation in th eeconomy. The all Economy class plane supports this fact as well since there won't be any premium demand.
As for transport of military personnel and equipment, trains are always more efficient, cheaper and more reliable. There are also military transport planes which are used for faster movements.
Not sure that Moscow or Pyongyang care much about returning the remains of their dead citizens. Like, they’re just dead people, not fancy cigars, expensive liquor, or super-luxury automobiles.
Guessing the upgrades are going to be easily scored on this laughing stock of a route, which will probably have a maximum PDEW of 2 people. Ah, Russia. What a joke.
Troop carrier, as others have suggested.
What are the Priority Pass options in FNJ?
What’s even crazier is Sam Chui has a review of the Air Koryo lounge from 2016. I kind of doubt they take Priority Pass, tho
How would one actually pay for this flight? Isn't Russia blocked from using any cards issued by Visa/MC/Amex etc? I guess you could always use crypto and I imagine this is going to cater toward a domestic market so they may have their own internal ways to pay but I just find it fascinating. What if a foreigner tries to purchase this? I won't go to their website and try though.
Just booked my flights for Russia using "Wego", it works well and is only an extra 3-4%
a 777 has good cargo capacity, so lots of usefull stuff can be moved from Pjonyang to Moscow quickly. 444 seats also don't hurt to transport some North Korean tourists to the Ukraine via Moscow.
No cabin class differentiation, seems quite matching for a flight to North Korea
Perhaps the dotard’s head ghoul Stephen Miller has decided to send immigrants to North Korean concentration camps via Moscow, where the dotard’s master lives.
Not sure what the purpose of this flight is, but I can say that North Korea has opened up to Russian tourists in recent months, without a major hassle for visas, etc. I live in Vladivostok, and local tour operators are routinely operating tours to North Korea, just across the border from Khasan. The caveat is that the tours are exclusively for Russian citizens, so being an American citizen with a Russian residence permit precludes...
Not sure what the purpose of this flight is, but I can say that North Korea has opened up to Russian tourists in recent months, without a major hassle for visas, etc. I live in Vladivostok, and local tour operators are routinely operating tours to North Korea, just across the border from Khasan. The caveat is that the tours are exclusively for Russian citizens, so being an American citizen with a Russian residence permit precludes me from booking (I wouldn't book it anyway).
I'm now deeply fascinated with how you got to be an American living in Russia and what life has been like in the last few years for you there...
Why are you residing in a terrorist country?!
440 dead North Korean fighters on the inbound to FNJ
440 unwilling volunteer troops on the outbound from FNJ
Agree it has something to do with N.Koreans involved in the Ukraine war.
yeah - a real hardcore travel blogger would be the first to sign up for this... especially if in F there were doors, F, caviar, and good (real) champagne.
is it bookable with Miles?
also - how are they getting around the current sanctions to get parts to keep this 777 running (let alone safely)?
Parts: through Turkey and through Dubai.
please make a flight review :)
Wonson has already banned foreign tourists so it’s probably not that https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07dr52p21mo.amp
Crimea's too dangerous, so Russians are taking their beach vacations to Wonsan-Kalma.
Imagine how grim the food would be on that flight
Ya mean they'd actually FEED their pax .... Maybe they'll go 'above & beyond' and offer ONE glass of {questionable} water !
Sounds like a BA inter-Europe flight ;)
So, that’s a no on the trip report? ;)
North Korean troops are fighting in Ukraine so this would be a way to transport them in and out without the risk of military intervention (i.e. Ukraine droning a Russian military transport aircraft).
North Korea is supplying plenty of soldiers for the Russian meat grinder, which could be one explanation. But whatever the purpose is, it's surprising that it's publicly bookable.
I wonder if it really is publicly bookable. Hmmm
Could it be like the gold runs Venezuela used to do (and probably still does) or some sort of sanction evasion scheme? Sergei Lavrov already had his visit there a little over a week ago and that would have been on a state plane not Nordwind.
It's not that surprising to see flights between North Korea and Russia/China. However, North Korea has more ties with the region of Vladivostok than with Moscow. So either it's a one-off to transport officials (and they put it on sale just in case they can fill up more seats), or as you suggested the interesting bit is in the cargo (but then why not just operate a cargo flight?)
@ GRkennedy -- Government officials on an all-economy jet?! :p
Would anyone expect anything else from a egalitarian 'communist' country ?
...lol