The US Federal Aviation Administration has decided that it will continue to ban flights by US carriers and US registered aircraft through much of North Korean airspace, even after the planned opening of the Pyongyang flight information region (FIR) to international traffic in April.
Newly amended FAA Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) 79 will restrict US carriers operating through Pyongyang FIR to an oceanic area east of longitude 132íE. No US operators, FAA-certified airmen or N-registered aircraft will be allowed to fly west of the line, ruling out any overflying of the North Korean land mass.
With reference to its earlier SFAR 79 issued in April 1997 (Flight International, 2-8 April), the FAA states that it "stands by its conclusion that the combination of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] military capabilities and its rules of engagement poses a potential threat to civil aircraft in the area west of 132íeast longitude, which includes the DPRK's territorial airspace."
SFAR 79 has been amended to permit proving flights through the Pyongyang FIR by Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines on 2, 4 and 5 March, respectively.
A Cathay Pacific Airways Boeing 747 freighter flying from Anchorage to Hong Kong will be the first through on 1 March, with Korean Air scheduled to follow two days later (Flight International, 10-16 December 1997, P16).
Under an International Air Transport Association agreed plan, the proving flights will follow route B467, which cuts diagonally across North Korea's oceanic airspace,but remain east of the FAA's demarcation line at all times. B467 enters Pyongyang FIR at point Nular before crossing into South Korea's neighbouring Taegu FIR at Kansu.
The FAA's continued refusal to permit flights west of 132í will bar US carriers from several potential new time saving routes between Asia and the USA, such as B332, G346 and R452.
The US authority, however, contends that, as US carriers now operate around instead of through the FIR, there "are no costs, only cost-savings associated" with the amended SFAR 79.
Source: Flight International
