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orth Korea’s national airline Air Koryo has been named the world’s worst airline receiving a one star rating from airline reviewer SkyTrax . Skytrax rank 681 airlines from around the world but Air Koryo is the only one to receive a single star overall.

The airline scored one star in twenty 28 out of 56 categories with one category, the arrivals lounge, being ranked as N/A or zero. A one star rating was given for language skills, in cabin-communication, comfort, facilities, food, its website, check-in, and inflight entertainment to name a few.

The Air Koryo fleet is composed of 18 aircraft, all Russian-made during the Soviet era, with one Ilyushin II-18 constructed 58 years ago.

North Korea “is now the only country in the world where you can reliably fly on all major Soviet-era aircraft in one place.”

Juche Travel, a UK-based travel agency, says on its website that North Korea “is now the only country in the world where you can reliably fly on all major Soviet-era aircraft in one place.”

Upon take off and landing the airline plays the revolutionary marching music associated with the North Korean dictatorship. Entertainment is limited to a single TV channel.

Australian biomedical engineer Mark Fahey went to Pyongyang in August 2011 and managed to photograph his experience flying with Air Koryo.

Fahey uploaded some shots of his trip to Flickr which give insight into why this airline received a one star rating.

One of his photos shows that the seats fold forward instead of backward and the flight attendants need to wipe moisture from the ceiling mid-flight to stop condensation dripping on passengers.

Another one of his photos demonstrates the quality of the newspaper received during that flight.

The Pyongyang Times headlined “Kim Jong Il gives field guidance to May 11 Factory.”

Interestingly, a number of alleged passengers rate their flights with Air Koryo nine or ten out of ten.

One of these alleged ten out of ten scores came from C Rosser, an Australian who reportedly flew Beijing to Pyongyang return – a rather strange flight path for an Aussie to take.

“The plane was clean and well presented. Check-in service was impersonal but satisfactory. The food was good. Both flights left and arrived right on time. A shame the airline doesn’t fly more routes.”

The most descriptive review comes from V Forni who rates the airline two out of five and described the flight as interesting.

“Propaganda handed out, announcements regarding how this flight was made possible by the dear leader, etc. Return was same aircraft type, but much better shape. However, upon landing in Beijing, was quickly sweating due to no air conditioning.”

Another passenger, L James from Hong Kong, took a flight from Beijing to Pyongyang October 28 last year and rated the experience six out of ten.

He said on his review that although the flight was a good experience and a time warp into the past, he had some concerns.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a team less interested in not only the well being but the safety of the passengers. For example, when the purser was meant to make the safety announcement, she looked around and saw a flight full of foreigners. As a result, she actually shrugged, rolled her eyes and sat right back down instead of briefing us. That it was a 30 year old Tupolev [plane] made that nagging feeling of ‘I should probably listen to the safety announcement in case I jinx the flight’ all the more pressing.”

Of the 40 reviews Air Koryo receive an average of just over five out of ten.

Air Koryo flies to 23 destinations with most flights heading to Russia, China, Bulgaria, Hungary, Switzerland and the Czech Republic according to the Centre of Aviation.

There are rumors circulating among the media that Kim Jong-un is attempting to expand this flight network and purchase more Russian produced planes.



For more Pics see:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/11161585/Koryo-Air-on-board-the-worlds-worst-airline.html?frame=3072046

Aram Pan

For more photos of North Korea, visit Aram Pan’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dprk360