Air China delays launch of N Korea flights

Air China announced it would postpone the launch of regular flights to North Korea but denied that this was linked to Pyongyang’s failure to meet a UN-imposed deadline to disable its atomic plants, AFP reported. The first of three weekly flights between Beijing and Pyongyang originally slated to begin this week has been pushed back to March. A spokesman for Air China said the delay was due to the organization of the flight schedule. Another airline, China Southern had previously transported passengers between the two cities, but halted operations, according to South Korean and Japanese media, after North Korea’s nuclear weapons test in October 2006. Currently, North Korea’s flagship carrier, Air Koryo, is the only airline linking the two capitals.