Spring Air Plans to Be First Budget Carrier to Fly to Pyongyang

(Bloomberg) -- Spring Airlines Co., founded by billionaire Wang Zhenghua, said it plans to become the first low-cost carrier to fly to North Korea.

The carrier has applied for a permit to fly to the North Korean capital from Shanghai four times a week, Spring Air Social Marketing Director Jonathan Hutt said at an aviation conference in Singapore Tuesday. The company is aiming for flights to Pyongyang to begin in February, he said.

If approved, the flights would help Asia’s largest budget airline by market value become the first Chinese carrier to fly to Pyongyang from Shanghai. Currently, Air China Ltd. offers flights to the North Korean capital from Beijing.

--With assistance from Clement Tan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net Lena Lee, Young-Sam Cho