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Air China said it took the decision to resume regular flights between Beijing and Pyongyang for “market reasons”. Photo: Reuters

Air China resumes regular flights between Beijing and Pyongyang

Travellers can book tickets for the CA121 route, which flies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons

North Korea

Air China will resume regular flights between Beijing and Pyongyang on Wednesday, a company official said, as diplomatic relations between the two countries improve.

China’s flag carrier indefinitely suspended flights between the two cities in November citing poor demand. The suspension came at a time when ties had been frayed by Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme and Beijing’s backing of tough United Nations sanctions in response.

An Air China company official said on Tuesday that flights would resume, saying that this was due to “market reasons”. He declined to provide further comment.

The airline now allows travellers to book tickets for the CA121 route from Beijing to Pyongyang, which flies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, its website showed.

State media has said that Air China flights to Pyongyang began in 2008 but have frequently been cancelled because of unspecified problems.

Relations between the two countries have warmed lately with Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un holding two meetings in China since March.

North Korea is in the meantime preparing for a summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.

Last month, two officials from North Korea’s Air Koryo said that the airline planned to launch charter flights between Pyongyang and Chengdu in southwestern China amid the diplomatic thaw.

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