Rising footfall by Chinese tourists in North Korea is prompting new airline offerings from China, in a market where they are proving to be no match for the "world's worst airline".
Budget carrier Spring Airlines, whose boss Wang Zhenghua is known for his penchant for bold forays into uncharted waters, is set to become the world's first airline other than the flag carriers of China and North Korea to operate flights to Pyongyang.
According to regulatory filings, Spring Air has applied to the Chinese aviation regulator to operate an Airbus A320 to the North Korean capital from Shanghai four times a week from February next year.
But Air Koryo, North Korea's national airline which consistently ends up at the bottom of the airline quality ratings by Skytrax and called the "world's worst airline" by The Economist and The Guardian, looks set to reign the clouds with its Soviet-era planes.
These planes are, in fact, "part of the experience" of visiting the Communist country.
Chinese travellers made 237,400 visits to North Korea in 2012, according to the latest available statistics from the national tourism bureau, almost doubling the figure from 2010. Most travelled by train.
Air China flies twice a week from Beijing, while Air Koryo flies five times, plus twice-weekly services to Shenyang along with charter flights from Shanghai, according to flight database OAG.