North Korea Opens Airspace To World’s Airlines

A Cathay Pacific cargo jet flew through North Korean airspace Sunday, the first from a non-communist country to do so in more than 50 years.

North Korea and the International Air Transport Association agreed a month ago to open North Korean airspace for commercial overflights, a move that gives the cash-strapped country another source of foreign currency.

A Boeing 747-400 of Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific left Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday and flew over a North Korean air corridor for 20 minutes Sunday before landing in Hong Kong.

The flight was “a big step closer to establishing regular operations along this route,” said the pilot, Paul Horsting. The route could save airlines about 40 minutes on flights from North America.

Delta, United Airlines, South Korea’s Korean Air and Singapore Airlines are expected to try the route later this week. The flights will not fly over North Korean land, but off the east coast of North Korea.