World’s worst airline, North Korea’s oddball Air Koryo, is still in business

The worst airline in the world flies regularly to only four or five destinations, departing from the despotic nation of North Korea.

Air Koryo, the state-run Korean airline, rates as the only 1-star carrier listed on an airline-review site created by the flight consultancy firm SkyTrax. Much-maligned airlines like Spirit Airlines and RyanAir at least earn two stars, putting them on the same playing field as Iran Air and Cubana Air.

Still, the enigmatic airline founded in 1955 has some clear downsides. The Associated Press described Air Koryo as the world’s quirkiest airline in 2014, and the quirks were not exactly pleasant:

In-flight entertainment is usually limited to the popular Moranbong Band girl group singing patriotic odes to the leader. Or North Korean cartoons, shown on drop-down screens attached to the cabin ceilings. On the less than two-hour hop from Beijing, there is a meal of sorts. It resembles a hamburger.

It helps that Air Koryo updated its Russian-made fleet in 2010 with new Tupolev 204 aircraft after the European Union banned the airline in 2006 for “serious and repeated safety deficiencies.” The Russian planes are not known for amenities.

North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un also commissioned a makeover for Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport that was completed in 2015. Unlike his father, Kim Jong-Il, who was afraid of flying, his son has an interest in aircraft.

The airline run by the hermit nation known for nuclear threats and human rights abuses doesn’t get out much.  Air Koryo has regular routes to two cities in China, Vladivostok in Russia, and Bangkok. The enigmatic airline inside the secretive country also has a no-photography policy on flights. But apparently, as seen in the gallery, those restrictions can be relaxed depending on the flight.

Credit: Chron