By Euronews Travel with AP
Published on
•Updated
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Russia on Sunday opened a daily air link between Moscow and Pyongyang, a move reflecting increasingly close ties between the 2 countries.
The primary flight operated by Russian carrier Nordwind took off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, carrying over 400 passengers, and landed in North Korea’s capital around eight hours later.
Tickets for the flight were priced at 45,000 rubles (around €480), in accordance with Russian state media outlet TASS. It reported that authorities gave Norwind permission to fly to North Korea in July.
The airline used to hold Russians to holiday destinations across Europe, including Spain and Germany, until the EU banned Russian carriers from operating in its airspace in 2022.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said there might be one flight a month to fulfill demand. It would be the first regular flight between the 2 capital cities because the mid-Nineties, in accordance with Russian aviation blogs and follows the resumption of the 10-day Moscow to Pyongyang rail service in June.
Previously, the one direct flight between Russia and North Korea was the service from Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
North Korea’s tourism push
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who visited North Korea’s latest Wonsan-Kalma beach resort earlier this month to fulfill with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, promised to encourage Russian tourists to go to the complex.
The resort, which might accommodate nearly 20,000 people, is on the centre of Kim’s push to spice up tourism to enhance his country’s troubled economy.
North Korea has been slowly easing the curbs imposed in the course of the pandemic and reopening its borders in phases. However the country hasn’t said if it is going to fully resume international tourism. Restrictions still largely ban foreign tourists from entering the country.
Regular flights between Russia’s eastern port city of Vladivostok and Pyongyang reopened in 2023 following a break brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Russia and North Korea have sharply expanded military and other ties lately, with Pyongyang supplying weapons and troops to back Russia’s military motion in Ukraine.
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