A PASSENGER PLANE from North Korea has landed in Moscow, the first direct commercial flight from North Korea’s capital to Russia’s in decades as the two countries deepen ties.

The Boeing 777 aircraft, operated by Russia’s Nordwind Airlines, flew from Moscow to Pyongyang yesterday before making the return trip to Russia today.

The two countries re-opened the flight path at the same time as they are seeking to forge closer diplomatic ties. 

After the first flight from Moscow arrived in Pyongyang, a video posted on Russian news agency RIA Novosti’s Telegram account showed North Korean officials and flight attendants welcoming the Russian passengers with flowers at Pyongyang’s international airport.

A North Korean official was seen checking the temperatures of the disembarking Russians with an electronic thermometer.

Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov was among those on the inaugural flight, RIA Novosti said on Telegram.

Nordwind Airlines — which used to carry Russians to holiday destinations in Europe before the EU imposed a ban on Russian flights — had tickets priced at 45,000 rubles (€480) for the route.

Russia has said the Moscow-Pyongyang route will be serviced once per month.

The plane landed back in the Moscow at 0750 GMT today, completing its first round trip on the route, according to the website of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

The 440-seater plane was “completely full”, with most of the passengers being North Korean, Russia’s state RIA news agency reported.

Russian diplomat Matvei Krivosheyev, who was also on board, was quoted as saying it was the first such flight in almost three decades.

“We are confident that this flight will be in demand both by Russian tourists and by Korean comrades,” he told the RIA news agency. 

The only other airports that offer regular commercial flights to North Korea are in Beijing and Shenyang in China and in Vladivostok, a city in the far east of Russia.

Russia and North Korea, two heavily sanctioned nations, signed a military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang.

South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region last year, along with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.

Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korea.

© AFP 2025