North Korean airline has reduced number of flights to Beijing

Almaty. January 5. Silkroadnews - The North Korean airline has reduced the number of flights to Beijing, the South China Morning Post reports.
“North Korea’s national airline has reduced the number of weekly flights connecting Pyongyang and Beijing from the start of this month, a company official said, without providing a reason for the decision,” the report said.
Air Koryo may have reduced the number of flights from three to two because of a decrease in tourist flow during the winter season and the need to save aviation fuel, the export of which falls under UN sanctions imposed on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
According to the official, the airline will continue to operate flights twice a week until the end of February. Up to December, Air Koryo performed flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In late December the carrier suspended flights connecting Pyongyang and China’s Shenyang, but plans to resume them in mid-January.
Air China also serves the Pyongyang-Beijing route, but the Chinese airline suspended flights in late November due to lack of demand and expect to resume flights not earlier than March.
Tourist trips to North Korea are not penalized by United Nations sanctions and are one of the few remaining ways for North Korea to earn hard currency.
Revenues that North Korea generates on tourism make about $44 million per year.
“China has never publicly announced a ban on Chinese tourists visiting Pyongyang and strongly opposes sanctions imposed by only one nation such as the US, which it says undermines UN unity. China’s trade with North Korea has already fallen to its lowest in months. Beijing has repeatedly said it is rigorously enforcing UN resolutions aimed at reining in Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs,” the report reads.