Kathmandu. Air China plans to resume direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang from March 30, Air China said. Train services between the two capitals resumed on Thursday after a six-year hiatus.

China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and a major source of diplomatic, economic and political support. However, travel between the two countries was curtailed from 2020 when the border was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flight CA-121 is scheduled to depart from Beijing Airport for Pyongyang and return the same day. North Korea’s state-run Air Koryo resumed flights from Beijing to Pyongyang in 2023.

Chinese travel agencies have started advertising travel packages for North Korea on social media, although there has been no official confirmation of the resumption of tourism.

The first passengers are expected to be students, workers and people with family ties across borders. While the announcement of the flight is promising for tourism, there is no confirmation yet about the number of Western tourists.

A handful of foreign tourists traveled to North Korea in April 2025 to take part in the first Pyongyang Marathon since 2019.