Air China has suspended flights from Beijing to PyongYang starting Monday morning.
A representative for Air China said that the flights were suspended because of weak sales and future flights will be scheduled based on passenger demand.
Reuters reports:
China’s national airline, Air China, has canceled some flights to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, due to poor demand but it has not suspended all flights there, it said on Friday, denying a report by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
CCTV had reported that all flights run by the airline between the two cities were to be suspended indefinitely.
“Air China did not stop operation of the Beijing to Pyongyang route, but temporarily canceled some flights based on the situation of ticket sales,” said a person in Air China’s communications team.
Subsequent flights would be scheduled according to ticket sales, the official said.
Air China’s flights, which operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, began in 2008 but have frequently been canceled due to unspecified problems, CCTV’s report said.
It is no surprise that demands for flights into PyongYang are down. Beijing correspondent for Channel News Asia, Jeremy Koh documented his April 12th flight from Beijing to Pyongyang. He said the flight was delayed as some passengers decided to pull out and had to retrieve their luggage.
Flight from #Beijing to #Pyongyang delayed as some passengers decided to pull out; luggages to be offloaded #DPRK pic.twitter.com/RRfpqQ5n48
— Jeremy Koh (@JeremyKohCNA) April 12, 2017
Koh also documented the flight suspension…
Air China stops flights to #Pyongyang today; unclear when flights will resume #DPRK pic.twitter.com/0ugxC2xGDl
— Jeremy Koh (@JeremyKohCNA) April 14, 2017
