Air China resumes flights to North Korea but stops taking fresh bookings

China's flag carrier resumed flights between the capital Beijing and North Korea's Pyongyang on Monday, but it has stopped taking fresh bookings on the route, according to Chinese state media and a tour operator.

Air China 601111.SS restarted the weekly flights for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese state media said and Reuters reported this month based on information from tour operator Young Pioneer Tours, which has had business in North Korea.

But the airline stopped taking further bookings and future flights had not been confirmed, Rowan Beard from Young Pioneer Tours said on Monday, citing his company's communications with Air China.

The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The flights between Beijing and Pyongyang had been reinstated following the resumption of passenger train services between the capital cities.

Still, North Korea is largely closed to ​foreign tourism, with few exceptions, such as for some Russian tour groups under restricted arrangements.

"With tourism currently non-existent, it becomes much harder to fill those planes even with just a once-weekly service," Beard said.

On Monday's flight from Beijing to Pyongyang, there were only around 10 passengers, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

Beard said high fuel costs were possibly another reason why Air China had stopped flights into North Korea.

A Reuters search of Air China's website did not show any available future flights between Beijing and Pyongyang.

-Reporting by Liz Lee, Ju-min Park and Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jamie Freed/Reuters