It is certainly not surprising that Air Koryo has once again been banned from the skies of Europe – specifically the European Union. I suppose I could do a bunch of links to newspaper articles but I think linking to Wikipedia in this case is sufficient. Ramp and safety inspections revealed “serious safety deficiencies on the part of Air Koryo” that were or could not be corrected by the airline and for the 5th time in a roll joined the infamous list of banned airlines. Flashparker, a very witty and observant Canadian blogger, noted with irony:
“Air Koryo also flies into Toronto. There’s something about that that’s wholly unsettling. Banned from flying into the European Union and the USA because the airline does not meet a number of airline safety standards, Toronto’s Pearson International welcomes, with open arms, a fleet that the Wright Brother’s would be embarrassed to command. I watch a number of the Air Koryo flights taxi in and hope to catch at least a glimpse of Kim Jong-Il as he deftly maneuvers his air bus. You didn’t know Kim Jong-Il could fly? He can. He can also kill leopards with his bare hands and once impregnated Janet Jackson simply by singing the North Korean national anthem.”
But how dangerous/safe is Koryo Airlines? A quick search on the net only revealed three alleged accidents:
On August 15, 2006, a Koryo Airlines Tupolev 154B-2 from Bejing to Sunan was slightly damaged when it ran off the runway and hit some radar equipment.
On July 1, 1983, a Civil Aviation Administration Korean (CAAK – the predecessor to Koryo Airlines ) Ilyushin 62, bound from Sunan to Guinea, crashed in the Fouta Djall Mountains killing all on board. Conakay (Guinea) Radio declared it “a catastrophe” and President Ahmed Sekou Toure’s government ordered the Guineans to mourn two days for the 23 North Korean victims. At the time there were more than 100 North Korean experts in the country helping to construct facilities for the Organization of African Unity summit. One newspaper speculated that there were important North Koreans on the flight causing the Guinean government to react as it did. Apparently the North Koreans weren’t just helping to build the buildings but were also educating the Guineans in “back to the land” cllectivization. Of course it helped that Guinea had gold and diamonds that the North could exploit and further deepen Guinea’s poverty.
The other accident may not have been a “real accident.” A Koryo Airlines’ helicopter supposedly crashed on July 9, 2005, into a warehouse full of emergency relief goods and destroying it. This article copied on North Korea Economy Watch declared the helicopter was full of medical supplies. Fortunately for North Korea – both the helicopter and the warehouse had insurance. But Allianz refused to pay and claimed that the accident was staged. Of course this wasn’t the only fraudulent North Korean transportation accident.
Comfort and Service as only the Dear Leader can provide.
Apparently Sunan Airport is quite a comfortable place. Perhaps it isn’t as delux and comfortable as Incheon Airport (which was voted the worlds best airport for the last couple of years) but I sure that there are a lot of people, especially leaving, that find Sunan Airport a gateway to paradise. It has a car park, a business center, disabled facilities, a duty free shop, passenger lounge, Korea Trade Bank, several souvenir shops and even a book store. What I find truly amazing is the taxi stand. One must wonder if there are gypsy cab (sorry for the politically incorrect term) that harass visitors to take their cabs into beautiful friendly Pyongyang City?
As for service – well, here is an interesting page of Koryo Air timetable booklets but unfortunately the English Homepage for Koryo Air seems to be down (dead link). Fortunately, I was able to find the travel blog of one fortunate visitor to the land of the Great Father here. I have included some of his observations below:
In Service Food: standard Asian airline grub: smoked meat wedges, cucumber salad with spicy cold chicken, a dinner roll, and rice with gravy and vegetables. The meal was nothing memorable, but it was being served gratis on a 90-minute flight, while American carriers charge for food on flights of up to six hours.
In Flight Magazine: None unless you counted copies of Pictorial KOREA; articles included “Ever-victorious Korean People’s Army” and “Japanese Reactionaries Run Amuck To Oppress Chongryon”).
Listening Entertainment: Patriotic music.
Flight Attendants and Overall Impression: Air Koryo is a flying circus featuring strangely coifed, vampiric flight attendants who work in a cabin straight out of a 1970s’ airport movie while travelers read palpably insane propaganda as they jet to an isolated dictatorship which is officially governed by a dead man. It’s not a drama; it’s a comedy of the absurd. Embrace the situation, and Air Koryo becomes enjoyable.
Picture Credit – Wikipedia
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There were also Guinean students studying in N. Korea at the time of that crash. One of them recalled the aftermath of the crash, when Guinean officials went to Pyongyang to express their condolences.
Great pics here, btw.
I flew Air Koryo from Beijing to Pyongyang. The plane I flew was a Russian tuplov, about 40 years old. When we descended the cockpit filled up with smoke and the engines started to scream. We landed safely, but I was told later that on the previous trip the landing gear had failed and the plane had bellied off the runway.
It only really hit me how dangerous they are when I interviewed an Australian pilot who was shot down in Korea during the Korean War. This is a guy who flew sorties in outdated Gloucester meteors against Mig-16s over North Korea, and he told me I was crazy.
Prior to the landing debacle, the flight was actually fairly interesting. The air hostesses were typically austere and wore too much makeup; the food wasn’t that bad; rolled sandwiches; the inflight magazine was the latest copy of the state newspaper, I forget what its called. The decor was stunningly severe art-deco.
Weirdly, the thing I remember most was speaking to one of the attendants in Korean. I remember she just started at me without expression, the most deadpan look, and she had green eyes, even though she was clearly a Joseon-saram. Anyone ever seen a green-eyed Korean?
I also recall them going through my carry-on at immigration and examining my iRiver as if it was a live IED. The hangeol made it pretty plain that it was from the ROK, but the two officials kept muttering in Korean that it couldn’t possibly be. Not sure if it was to assuage each other’s political sensibilities, or if they actually doubted it.
There is a documentary on YouTube called, “The Vice Guide to North Korea.” It shows the narrator boarding an Air Koryo flight in China, and he films within the cabin, but you can hardly see the interior.
Too bad the Euros are keeping them out, as somebody’s got to keep those museum-piece Il-62s flying after the Russkies themselves converted to Airbuses and Boeings.
I think Flash Parker just makes things up as he goes. Since when does Air Koryo fly into Pearson Airport? He also states that in the Beijing airport he watched “a number” Air Koryo flights taxi in. Anyone familiar with Air Koryo schedule would know this to be misleading. He may have watched one (which technically is a number).
Plus it is common knowledge that Kim Jong Il is afraid of flying and takes the train when he travels.
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