Air China has since last week deployed wide-body Airbus A330 jets on the Beijing-Pyongyang route, data on the NK Pro Aviation Tracker shows, a decision likely connected to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to North Korea.

In an unusual move, all three round-trip Air China flights since last Wednesday have utilized long-range A330 jets instead of the normally used short-haul Boeing 737-800, analysis of data at the NK Pro Aviation Tracker indicates.

Air China’s A330s rarely enter North Korean airspace, with the last such flight being in June 2018, when one such aircraft flew from Pyongyang directly to Singapor