The world's 'worst' airline joins the Internet age

The world's worst-rated airline has finally launched a website.

Reuters reports "North Korea's Air Koryo, has ... joined the Internet age with an online booking service, offering flights to and from the isolated state to Beijing and Shenyang in China as well as Vladivostok in Russia."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the website isn't winning much praise.

The Telegraph of London says:

Early reports seems to suggest the website is unlikely to help the North Korean flag carrier shake its one-star rating, however. Users have already reported slow response speeds, with some searches not offering any availability for flights, while others result in an error message appearing on the screen.

In another peculiar glitch -- at least by Western standards -- the International Business Times notes that Air Koryo does "does not accept credit cards, instead requiring passengers to arrange an international wire transfer" via its website.

North Korea expert Leonid Petrov tells NK News – a North Korea watchdog site – that he believes the state-owned North Korean airline the website was created "to impress the people who have never thought of traveling to Pyongyang."

"It functions like a primitive database of flights but does not book anything, and nobody would feel safe to entrust his or her personal information to it," he adds, according to NK News.

The Korea Times writes Air Koryo launched its website in August, about a month after new "Supreme Leader" Kim Jong-un "conducted an unannounced inspection of the country's main Sunan International Airport and called on the nation to catch up with international standards."

Air Koryo does appear to have a Facebook page, which launched about a year ago. However, NK News says that turns out to have been "nothing more than a fan website, run by enthusiastic Russian air crews."

As for Air Koryo, it has the distinction of being the world's only carrier to earn just a single star in the annual rankings conducted by Skytrax, United Kingdom consultancy known for its survey-based ratings of airline and airports.

Skytrax, which rates airlines on 1- to 5-star scale, says via its website that a "1-Star Airline Ranking represents a very poor Quality performance -- falling below the industry average in the different competitive rankings of Product and Service standards. The 1 Star Airline ranking represents very poor standards of Product across all travel categories, with poor, inconsistent standards of Staff Service delivery in Onboard and Airport environments."

CNN notes the Air Koryo fleet consists of roughly two dozen Russian-made planes, "with some dating to the Soviet Union era."

Air Koryo appears to offer at least sporadic service to about 20 destinations, though its website makes only four cities available for booking information. They are the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shenyang, and Russia's far-east port city of Vladivostok.

Reuters found a fare of $374 for a business-class seat between Pyongyang and Beijing, which the news agency says "is a lot for a country where annual gross domestic product per capita is estimated at $1,800."

On the off-chance that our Today in the Sky readers might be interested in checking out Air Koryo's flights, the Korea Times says North Korea "has dropped most of its travel restrictions on U.S. citizens."

However, the U.S. State Department has an official warning regarding travel to North Korea. In part, the warning reads:

"The North Korean government will detain, prosecute, and sentence anyone who enters the DPRK without first having received explicit, official permission and an entry visa from its government. Travel by U.S. citizens to North Korea is not routine, and U.S. citizens crossing into North Korea, even accidentally, have been subject to arrest and long-term detention."

The Korea Times reports that an estimated 2,000 westerners visit North Korea each year, tough most are part of organized tours in which travelers are "closely monitored by minders and are mostly restricted from speaking with locals."