Russia will launch direct flights from Moscow to North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang later this month, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) said Wednesday.
Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia issued a license for the charter airline Nordwind to operate flights between Moscow and Pyongyang twice a week, according to ATOR. Nordwind reportedly applied for the license in June.
Currently, the only direct air route between the two countries is a twice-weekly Air Koryo flight between Pyongyang and the Far East Russian city of Vladivostok. That route resumed in August 2023 following a three-year suspension during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Around the time air travel between Vladivostok and Pyongyang resumed, Rosaviatsia was reported to have encouraged Russian airlines to establish regular routes to North Korea after meeting with North Korean aviation officials.
According to ATOR, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport added flights to Pyongyang to its schedule starting on July 27.
North Korea has become one of Russia’s closest allies since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The U.S. and its allies accuse Pyongyang of supplying Russia with artillery and ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.
Top Russian officials have made a series of high-profile visits to North Korea, and the two countries signed a mutual defense pact during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang last year.
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