The A330's Coming To Pyongyang, North Korea!

It’s 3:50 a.m., I should probably be asleep or at least being productive like editing videos, but here we are.

On November 29 and December 2, 2019, Air China will operate the Airbus A330-200 to the North Korean capital.

Air China currently operates scheduled thrice-weekly flights between Beijing and Pyongyang, which resumed in June 2018.

This aircraft will replace the scheduled Boeing 737-700 on the route.

The flight operates with the following schedule:
CA121 PEK1335 – 1620FNJ 330
CA122 FNJ1720 – 1825PEK 330

What’s significant about this?

I may be wrong, but I believe this is the first or second scheduled commercial widebody flight for FNJ. The airport has been expanding lately, with the national airline Air Koryo expanding to destinations like Macau.


(Image by Simply Aviation)

Source: https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/278972/air-china-resumes-pyongyang-service-from-june-2018/

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nice thread and very interesting!

I wonder if the aircraft will be fitted specifically for the route, like they did with their 737-700. I think they designed the fit to meet DPRK’s strict standards when it comes to western technology.

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So they flew an American plane to North Korea, as a Chinese carrier?

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Interesting route they have chosen.

I can see some similarities.

Correction, there were 4 planes, heres an image of one of them, its a 737-700 without winglets.

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Quite interesting and quite controversial indeed! 😯😬 Thank you for sharing!

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A330 is french I believe.

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He’s talking about the 737-79L

That’s an interesting thought. Would they allow the IFEs to operate on board considering it likely includes western content?

Nope, I know this is a bit off-topic but.
So I have a huge interest in the DPRK, I find stories and news involving it very interesting.
The DPRK heavily controls its media, and their citizens are brain-washed from the beginning, thinking that North Korea has state of the Art technology, which is not true, they go as far as to make them think that eating saw-dust is healthy and edible, they do this because of their level of poverty. This is the exact same reason that Air China operates the 737-79L there, because it looks like a damn old plane. IFE would never be allowed because of western content and technology, if you look at Air Koryo reviews, their IFE (TV’s on the top) only display state controlled media, such as the Peoples Army Choir. The possible reasoning behind the A330 now servicing this route is because the DPRK, believe it or not, is moving slowly to westernization, for example.
You probably know that the DPRK is very anti-USA, and tells their citizens that the USA is a devil-state, and that they do evil things, and how do they tell them this? Propaganda. They used to have posters littering streets with things such as bombs being dropped on the USA, but now, you wont find those posters, because they have realised that the only way to get out of the situation they are in is to face the fact that they need to emerge from their hermit shell.
But Air China will most likely remove their IFE on one or two A330’s for this route, or maybe turn it off.

More than likely turn it off.

2nd December will be the first time the North Korean people will see an Airbus A330.

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In the future, I’d like to see North Korea opening up to the world, just even a little more. I honestly believe that there is probably a lot of beautiful places to visit in North Korea, and it would indeed be very intriguing, to say the least to visit the country.

Despite all the negativity portrayed on media, and a rather evil image they have gotten. I believe that in a future where North Korea isn’t heavily guarded as a secretive nation, that is isolating themselves from the world, that’s where, a more open North Korea, is where I see the potential for growth. And since Air China is now planning on operating the A330 to Pyongyang, it would be optimistic of me to say that this will pave the way for more, I don’t know, tourism, visits, uh, more people going to North Korea, but I do think that it is the beginning of where I personally feel that more heavies will be flying to Pyongyang in the future. May that future be 20, 50, 90 years away, but opening up its airspace just a little, and having more than Air China to operate out of North Korea, would most definitely benefit their economy first and foremost.

I have hope, and faith in that aviation will grow and bloom in the nation. One day, I think, we’ll see openness o a further extend there, and let Air China’s A330 service be the start of something new, that could, who knows, the wide-body may be an eye-opener for travel in masses to North Korea. And as for the IFE, either it will be turned off, most likely, or they may, just maybe may, and now I may be hoping for something positive, but, possibly they might advertise how great North Korea, but in a non-political manner but rather showing off how great their nation is, because, at the end of the day, you should be proud of your home country.

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