Overview

• Nordwind Airlines operated the first Boeing 777-200 service from Sheremetyevo on July 27, ending a 30-year hiatus in direct capital flights.
• Tickets for the roughly eight-hour journey cost about 44,700 rubles and sold out all 440 seats, mostly claimed by North Korean nationals.
• The flight returns from Pyongyang to Moscow on July 29, with monthly round-trip services scheduled thereafter.
• The route’s revival symbolizes Moscow’s pivot to non-Western allies and cements a post-treaty ‘honeymoon’ in Russia–North Korea relations.
• Russia’s environment minister indicated that officials are considering a new direct connection to Wonsan, North Korea’s developing tourist hub.