Air Koryo: Aviation History #4
The Rise, Fall, and Isolation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's State Airline
It is time we delve into history’s most secretive (and fascinating) airline—the airline of the sanctioned Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. To say the DPRK’s official airline is the least respected airline in the world is a massive understatement. Yet that was not always the case. With the aid of the USSR, its closest powerful ally, the airline showed the makings of a truly modern global carrier.
The history of Air Koryo, as the DPRK’s airline is now known in the modern era, began with the birth of SOKAO, or the Soviet–Korean Airline Organization. SOKAO was established as a joint North Korean–Soviet venture, illustrating the influence and support of the Soviet ally, in early 1950 to connect Pyongyang with Moscow.
Regular flights began that same year, in mid-1950, though the exact timeframe is unknown. Services were suspended during the 1950–1953 Korean War, resuming in 1953 under the name Ukamps, run by the North Korean Bureau of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Transport, with service between Pyongyang, Beijing, and Shenyang. The state airline was then placed under the control of the Civil Aviation Administration of Korea (CAAK) and rebranded as Korean Airways, starting operations on 21 September 1955 with Lisunov Li-2 (the Soviet-built version of the Douglas DC-3 aircraft of World War II fame), Antonov An-2 (an early yet reliable single-engine biplane), and Ilyushin Il-12 (an early twin-engine, propeller-driven cargo plane converted to passenger use). Ilyushin Il-14s and Il-18s (twin- and quad-engine propeller aircraft donated by the Soviet Union) were added to the fleet in the 1960s, ironically during the Vietnam War, which was ideologically fought between the East and West.
Entering the Jet Age, operations commenced two decades later in 1975, just after the fall of Saigon, when the first Soviet Tupolev Tu-154 was delivered for SOKAO service from Pyongyang to at least three destinations: Prague, Soviet-controlled East Berlin, and Moscow itself, with refueling stops in Irkutsk and Novosibirsk, as the Tu-154 had insufficient range on its own. The Tu-154 was an unimpressive three-engined medium jetliner, a Soviet quasi-copy of the Douglas DC-9 in the United States.
Tu-134s and An-24s were also delivered to start domestic services. The Antonov An-24 was essentially an early version of the widely used ATR-42 turboprop aircraft in Europe. For reference, the ATR (in -42 and -72 configurations) is still used throughout European Union nations for short-haul domestic flights such as Lisbon to Porto, both cities in Portugal. The Tu-134 was a short-haul, jet-powered airliner that seemed, by most analyst accounts, to be an early copy (notice a trend here?) of the U.S. domestic workhorse, the Boeing 727 trijet. The Ilyushin Il-62, an original Soviet long-haul jet design, was delivered by 1979 to expand Korean Airways’ long-haul reach with international flights to Sofia, Bulgaria, and Belgrade (at the time Yugoslavia, now Serbia).
Alongside Soviet aircraft, North Korea also considered acquiring Concorde supersonic jets for Air Koryo under a plan by North Korean leader Kim Il Sung to boost the country’s international prestige. North Korea, Aérospatiale, and British Aerospace (Concorde’s two European manufacturers) signed a preliminary purchase agreement for two Concordes in 1979, but the deal never proceeded because of North Korea’s economic challenges and Cold War tensions. The original plan was to acquire the Tu-144 (a Concorde copy) from the USSR, and Chosonminhang (as North Korean Airways was referred to domestically) pilots were sent to Russia to begin training for the type. However, Soviet aviation authorities were hesitant to allow the sale to proceed due to fears of compromising what they saw as sensitive military technology and ultimately refused to fulfill the order.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Korean Airways lost its Soviet backing and was rebranded as Air Koryo, making the change official in 1992 as William J. Clinton entered the White House in the United States, whom they watched with cautious interest. Control of Air Koryo was passed to the DPRK military, though the airline remained wholly state-owned.
In the 1990s, in an effort to boost relations with the U.S. manufacturing and engineering industry following the so-called Agreed Framework—a diplomatic document that thawed relations to an extent—Air Koryo attempted to purchase McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) MD-80 passenger liners to replace its aging Tu-134 fleet for intermediate international flights, forging strong relations with the aerospace giant.
The deal progressed so far that Air Koryo included the MD-82 as a fleet member in one of its brochures in 1996. However, rising pressure from McDonnell Douglas shareholders and senior U.S. government officials forced the cancellation of the deal, negating a large part of that framework.
Entering the new millennium, things for Air Koryo were relatively quiet. By 2007, however, Air Koryo purchased Tupolev Tu-204 aircraft from the Russian Federation—an aircraft roughly analogous to the Boeing 757, though with performance closer to that of the early Boeing 737-200. The airline expanded with flights to Dalian, China, in Liaoning Province.
In 2017, during the rule of North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un, there were signs that Air Koryo was branching out into commercial sectors beyond aviation, providing goods and services as diverse as petrol stations, taxis, tobacco, soft drinks, and tinned pheasant meat. It must be noted, however, that this attempt did not last. Kim Jong Un remains the “Supreme Leader” of the country, though his official title has varied over time, including First Secretary, General Secretary, Chairman, and Premier.
As of 2021, a further pair of Tupolev Tu-204-100B aircraft were reportedly prepared to be leased to Air Koryo. However, both have since been sighted with the name Sky KG Airlines added on top of Air Koryo’s colors and have been moved to Zhukovsky International Airport near Moscow, where they remain as of November 2023—leading to ongoing theory, conjecture, and supposition, especially among analysts.
Intelligence and media reports suggest that North Korea may still be attempting to acquire these two jets with assistance from the Russian Federation as of November 2023, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022. Russia’s publicly available financial data suggests strain, making its partnership with the DPRK even more significant.
In terms of international service, scheduled flights are only operated from Pyongyang to Beijing, Shenyang, and Vladivostok. Additional destinations not listed on their website are noted elsewhere as charter or seasonal services.
Air Koryo bears the unfortunate distinction of being banned from entering European Union airspace, along with a small number of other airlines—a ban that began in 2006.
Typically, one can only book Air Koryo flights if they are a resident of Pyongyang, have inside contacts within the DPRK, or possess insider methods for booking. Please note: Brooke In The Air Travel cannot and will not facilitate travel on Air Koryo or to North Korea under any circumstances.
There is one Il-62M aircraft operated for the Government of North Korea as the personal transport for Kim Jong Un—the North Korean equivalent of “Air Force One.”
Air Koryo often stages onboard experiences to showcase the country to visitors, offering food that the average North Korean citizen cannot afford, performing songs rarely heard within the country, playing movies that are banned domestically, and allowing a level of comparative freedom not typically experienced within North Korea.
In my experience, countries that begin with “Democratic Republic of X” or “People’s Republic of Y” are rarely democratic or true republics.
Lastly, the livery—even it is politicized. Following Kim Jong Un’s announcement at the end of 2023 that North Korea would no longer seek reunification with South Korea, the airline updated its crane logo in 2024. The old logo featured a stylized crane whose wings resembled the Korean Peninsula as a unified whole, symbolizing unity. The new design, however, consists of tapered horizontal lines that no longer resemble the peninsula.
Thank you all for reading. We hope you learned a great deal about North Korea’s sanctioned airline and that it encouraged you to think more deeply. Book a consultation for your safe yet enjoyable trip at brookeintheairtravel.net.
