Air China restarted direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang Monday after a six-year hiatus, another sign isolated North Korea is gradually opening up following the resumption of train services between the capitals.
China has acted as a lifeline for North Korea's moribund economy as its largest trading partner as well as an important source of diplomatic and political support.
Access to North Korea has always been heavily restricted, but the country became almost entirely cut off when it sealed its borders in 2020 during the pandemic.
Flight CA121 departed Beijing Capital Airport, according to FlightStats data, and arrived at Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport.
The plane was a Boeing 737-700 with capacity for up to 128 passengers, according to travel website Trip.com, though only travellers with business, study or other special purposes can make the cross-border journey.
Daily passenger train services resumed this month with China, and AFP journalists in China's northeastern town of Dandong saw a mostly empty passenger train travelling into the isolated nation last week.
While China has fully reopened its borders since the pandemic, North Korea has proceeded at a much slower pace.
North Korea resumed direct flights and train services with Russia last year and state carrier Air Koryo restarted flights between Beijing and Pyongyang in 2023.
Prior to the pandemic, Chinese tourists made up the bulk of foreign visitors to North Korea, numbering roughly 350,000 in 2019 and providing a huge revenue stream for Pyongyang.
By comparison, around 5,000 Western tourists visited North Korea each year from 2009, with U.S. citizens accounting for 20 percent of those.
