US airlines will be banned from North Korean national airspace even when an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) agreement has opened the Pyongyang Flight Information Region (FIR) to international traffic, the US Federal Aviation Administration says.
The FAA ruling (Special Federal Aviation Regulation No.79) clarifies US policy during current ICAO negotiations to broker an FIR agreement between North and South Korea.
At present, US carriers remain banned from operating anywhere within the Pyongyang FIR. Even when the ICAO negotiation is complete, US carriers may only operate east of longitude 132íE, which confines them to the eastern oceanic part of the FIR, well clear of the North Korean mainland. The FAA explains: "The combination of [North Korea's] heavily armed posture, its continuing lack of a peace treaty with South Korea, and its inexperience in managing international civil aircraft overflights-including co-ordination between civil-aviation authorities and the military-poses a potential threat to civil aircraft flying in certain areas of the Pyongyang FIR."
Pyongyang, anticipating an agreement with Seoul at new ICAO-sponsored talks in Bangkok, has already issued a notice-to-airmen (Notam) on a series of proposed new routes. They include opening route B467 to North American traffic to and from Seoul and extending the Pyongyang-Hamun route B332 to connect with B467 at either Nular or Kansu.
Meanwhile, ICAO and the International Air Transport Association are optimistic that a deal can finally be reached between North and South Korea. Talks had earlier stalled over Seoul's insistence on a direct landline between its Taegu FIR and Pyongyang control centres, rather than rely on satellite communications.
Source: Flight International
