Comments on: Inside Air Koryo’s new Tupolev http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/ News and analysis of the North Korean economy Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:01:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Simon http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-89868 Simon Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:14:04 +0000 http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-89868 There's no way that the suggestions above are the way that th passport popped up on screen, that isn't how the application process works, is it not more likely that they have a little scanner at the check-in desk and that's how it popped up? also when you run the magnetic strip of a passport though the passport control machines doesn't this contain a picture of the passport that comes up on the screen? anyway whichever way it is, it isn't from a scanned copy of the passport being sent in advance, this isn't how it works. The new plane is indeed much better than the old ones, they show a movie (same one in both directions) currently it is Order-027 which has plenty of fights and is a reasonable film, nervous flyers like myself will probably not love the part where a helicopter explodes while the plane descends! I read some report that said that the plane was bought reasonably cheaply due to poor sales of the model, also Air Koryo is a company run for profit after all (even if it doesn't make any, subsidising airlines would hardly be unique to NK, who pays for any new planes for major airlines then?), so those funds would have been what paid for it most likely. BTW the food on the Beijing - Pyongyang leg of the flight is still the same but they have reverted back to the 'Koryo Burger' that was much loved/hated previously, this time though the bun is vastly enlarged meaning that you have to bite through about 2 inches of bread on either side of the burger to get to it, as before, about 50% of passengers didn't bother with it (burger at 9AM is a bit early for some) There’s no way that the suggestions above are the way that th passport popped up on screen, that isn’t how the application process works, is it not more likely that they have a little scanner at the check-in desk and that’s how it popped up? also when you run the magnetic strip of a passport though the passport control machines doesn’t this contain a picture of the passport that comes up on the screen? anyway whichever way it is, it isn’t from a scanned copy of the passport being sent in advance, this isn’t how it works.
The new plane is indeed much better than the old ones, they show a movie (same one in both directions) currently it is Order-027 which has plenty of fights and is a reasonable film, nervous flyers like myself will probably not love the part where a helicopter explodes while the plane descends!
I read some report that said that the plane was bought reasonably cheaply due to poor sales of the model, also Air Koryo is a company run for profit after all (even if it doesn’t make any, subsidising airlines would hardly be unique to NK, who pays for any new planes for major airlines then?), so those funds would have been what paid for it most likely.
BTW the food on the Beijing - Pyongyang leg of the flight is still the same but they have reverted back to the ‘Koryo Burger’ that was much loved/hated previously, this time though the bun is vastly enlarged meaning that you have to bite through about 2 inches of bread on either side of the burger to get to it, as before, about 50% of passengers didn’t bother with it (burger at 9AM is a bit early for some)

]]> By: ROK Drop Weekly Linklets: 21-27 July 2008 http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-87704 ROK Drop Weekly Linklets: 21-27 July 2008 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:40:50 +0000 http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-87704 [...] Worker’s Paradise has a new plane, I wonder which appeasement funds paid for [...] […] Worker’s Paradise has a new plane, I wonder which appeasement funds paid for […]

]]> By: View from the Wing » Blog Archive » A New Aircraft for a Classless Workers Paradise http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-86722 View from the Wing » Blog Archive » A New Aircraft for a Classless Workers Paradise Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:26:01 +0000 http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-86722 [...] Via North Korea Econ Watch, here are photos of Air Koryo’s new Tupolov 204. Beijing wouldn’t let the old Russian clunkers land, so they insisted on new Russian clunkers. Nice to see China acting as aviation safety regulator given (ironically for a nominally communist state) their market power over Pyongyang. [...] […] Via North Korea Econ Watch, here are photos of Air Koryo’s new Tupolov 204. Beijing wouldn’t let the old Russian clunkers land, so they insisted on new Russian clunkers. Nice to see China acting as aviation safety regulator given (ironically for a nominally communist state) their market power over Pyongyang. […]

]]> By: NKeconWatch http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-86135 NKeconWatch Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:14:32 +0000 http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-86135 Thanks for the pictures and comments, Stephan. Best of luck, C Thanks for the pictures and comments, Stephan.

Best of luck,

C

]]> By: Stephan http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-86124 Stephan Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:00:13 +0000 http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2008/07/23/inside-air-koryos-new-tupolev/#comment-86124 Hi Curtis, thanks for the link to my photostream. I was happy we got to fly the new Air Koryo plane this time. It lacks the flair of the old ones - but it does feel a lot safer ;-) Regarding the software at the airport: I'm sure you're right about them having some sort of intranet connection between the airport and Beijing. We never handed them our passports before entering the country. We emailed scans of them to the KITC (Ryohaengsa) office in Beijing and they had them up on the screen... cheers, -Stephan Hi Curtis,

thanks for the link to my photostream. I was happy we got to fly the new Air Koryo plane this time. It lacks the flair of the old ones - but it does feel a lot safer ;-)

Regarding the software at the airport: I’m sure you’re right about them having some sort of intranet connection between the airport and Beijing. We never handed them our passports before entering the country. We emailed scans of them to the KITC (Ryohaengsa) office in Beijing and they had them up on the screen…

cheers,

-Stephan

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