North Korea has leased a new passenger jet from Ukraine, South Korean officials said Sunday, Yonhap media reported.
The move comes to enhance North Korea’s aging aviation fleet. Antonov An-148 was delivered to North Korea from Ukraine on March 14, bringing the total number of the twin-engine commercial aircraft in service by North Korea's state-run airline, Air Koryo, to two.
In 2013, North Korea signed a deal with Ukraine's Antonov aircraft company to lease two An-148 jets, Yonhap reported.
The new jet has a capacity of 75 seats with the tail number P-572; it also has a white fuselage and a gray lower deck. It has the name Air Koryo and the North Korean national flag painted on it, although there is no red stripe — a symbol of the carrier — along the windows, the officials said.
The features of the new jet suggest that North Korea would use it on international flights for ordinary passengers, but it could also be used by Kim Jong-un and other top officials if necessary.
The new jet is known to have a maximum flight range of 3,498 kilometers.
