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Air China will resume flights flying between Beijing and North Korea from March 30, the airline's website said Saturday, after passenger train services running between the two nations restarted earlier this week. According to the website of the stated-owned airline, flights from China's capital to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital will run every Monday until May 18, but would scale down to two Mondays in June. In 2020 with the start of the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world's most draconian COVID-19 restrictions. Two years later, Pyongyang started slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders. North Korean Air Koryo resumed flights between the two nations' capitals in 2023. In February 2024, North Korea accepted some Russian tourists for sightseeing visits, the first foreign nationals to visit the country. That development surprised many observers who thought the first post-pandemic tour
Nine passengers were injured after an engine fire sent smoke into the cabin of an Air China jetliner landing in Singapore, prompting an evacuation of the aircraft. The Airbus A320 with 146 passengers and nine crew made an emergency landing about 4.15 pm Sunday, Changi Airport said in a statement on its Facebook page. The flight was coming from the city of Chengdu in China's Sichuan province. Nine people had minor injuries related to smoke inhalation and abrasions during the evacuation, the statement said. The pilot declared an emergency after reporting smoke in the forward cargo hold and a lavatory. Smoke blurred the lights in the cabin and flight attendants told people to remain calm and stay in their seats after some stood up, a passenger told Chinese media. The fire in the left engine was extinguished after the plane landed, Chinese media said. A preliminary investigation indicated a mechanical failure in the engine was the cause, Air China said in statement posted on social m