North Korean state airline Air Koryo has slots for a twice-weekly flight to Vladivostok from March 1, schedules published by the Vladivostok International Airport (VVO) indicate, which could provide the first air-link out of the country in weeks.

Air Koryo has slots to fly one if its Tupolev-204 aircraft on Thursdays and Sundays on the route – instead of the usual Mondays and Fridays – until March 26, the schedule suggests.

If all of the proposed flights go ahead, it will mean nine round-trips between the two cities through the end of March.

However, personnel at two different Air Koryo offices would not confirm on Wednesday whether any of the flights might go ahead.

Though Air Koryo’s official schedule is yet to reflect the update, VVO’s own data is typically a reliable source for future schedule information.

The potential for an air connection out of the country comes as North Korean authorities on Monday rejected a British government request to fly a chartered aircraft there for support and evacuation purposes, amid ongoing concerns about the novel coronavirus.

The flight was proposed with the EU in order to bring supplies into the country and fly some effectively stranded by North Korea’s draconian response to the virus out, multiple sources indicated.

Only flights into and out of DPRK airspace for medical emergencies would be allowed, NK News learned at the time, though authorities did moot the possibility of an Air Koryo evacuation flight to Vladivostok in early March, chiming with the updated slot schedule.

Travel in and out of the country is effectively prohibited at present, with all rail and air routes suspended until the end of February at the earliest.

Should Air Koryo resume limited service to Vladivostok in March it will, therefore, allow diplomats and expatriate residents stranded in the DPRK a way out of the country – and North Korean workers still thought to be in Russia a way home.

The DPRK’s all-encompassing response to containing novel coronavirus has had severe implications for those in the expat community.

NK News understands that some embassies have been running out of basics, including cash, while foreigners officially scheduled to leave the country weeks ago remain prohibited from leaving the country.

And while some foreigners are being quarantined in the diplomatic compound – a small area within which exists relative freedom – others are said to be locked inside their apartments or even rooms, receiving as little as one meal per day.

Edited by Oliver Hotham