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Air China resumes Beijing-Pyongyang route after 6-year suspension

Published: 30 Mar. 2026, 15:43 Updated: 30 Mar. 2026, 17:05

A Chinese business traveler speaks to the media after checking in for a flight to Pyongyang at Beijing Capital Airport on March 30. [AFP/YONHAP]

Air travel between China and North Korea resumed for the first time in six years on Monday as Air China relaunched its Beijing-Pyongyang route.

Flight CA121 departed Beijing Capital International Airport at 8:10 a.m. Monday and was scheduled to arrive at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport after approximately three hours. The return flight, CA122, was set to depart Pyongyang at noon and arrive in Beijing. The route will operate once a week on Mondays.

The resumption comes six years after the route was suspended in January 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While North Korea’s Air Koryo partially resumed flights to Beijing in 2023, regular services by Chinese airlines had not been restored until now.

China also resumed passenger train services between Beijing and Pyongyang on March 12, marking the first such service in six years. The restoration of both air and rail links points to a broader recovery of exchange infrastructure and people-to-people exchange between the two countries.

“Exchanges between the two countries will become more active if rail and air routes increase,” a passenger on a flight to Pyongyang reportedly told news outlets.

The resumption comes about six months after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited China and held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September last year. It also comes ahead of a planned visit to China by U.S. President Donald Trump, drawing attention in the broader diplomatic context.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]