Pyongyang International Airport

Pyongyang International Airport (Korean: 평양국제비행장; Hancha: 平壤國際飛行場; MR: P'yŏngyang Kukche Pihaengjang) (IATA: FNJ, ICAO: ZKPY), also known as Pyongyang Sunan International Airport (Korean: 평양 순안 국제공항; Hancha: 平壤 順安 國際空港), is the sole international airport serving Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea and located in the city's Sunan District.

During the period of Japanese rule, two airports were built in Pyongyang. Pyongyang Air Base was built by the Empire of Japan in the 1940s and remained in use until the 1950s. A second airport, Mirim Airport, was also built by the forces of the empire of Japan in the 1940s, east of the Taedong River. However, after World War II there was a need for a newer airport, and Sunan Airfield was built. Mirim Airport survived as a military airfield, and Pyongyang Air Base was re-developed for government use and for housing.^{[citation needed]}

During the Korean War, the airport was occupied by United Nations forces for seven weeks in late 1950, when the forces flew large amounts of supplies to Sunan. On 13 May 1953, the airport was inundated when the United States Air Force bombed Toksan Dam. After an armistice was signed, two months later, the North Korean Government began repairing and expanding the airport.

The Soviet airline Aeroflot flew to Moscow and Khabarovsk in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Air Koryo also provided nonstop flights to Moscow, which continued on to Berlin, Prague and Sofia.

During the 1989 13th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Pyongyang, a temporary terminal building was erected specifically to accommodate the arrival of the festival’s international attendees.

Russian Sky Airlines operated charter services to Pyongyang from Russian destinations in the mid-2000s on Il-62M and Il-86 aircraft. China Southern Airlines offered scheduled charter flights to and from Beijing during the peak season only, and permanently stopped its flights in October 2006. In March 2008, Air China re-established service to Beijing on a Boeing 737, three days a week, and suspended due to lack of demand on 22 November 2017. Air Koryo, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines also provided chartered flight services to Seoul and Yangyang, on the east coast of South Korea, from Pyongyang. These flights were used by Koreans visiting relatives across the border; these services were halted after the ending of the Sunshine Policy by South Korea in 2008. In June 2018, Air China resumed service from Beijing Capital Airport to Pyongyang.

By early 2011, an interim facility handling international flights had been built just south of the existing terminal. By early 2012, demolition of the existing terminal, which Kim Jong Un deemed too small and outdated, had begun. In July 2012, he ordered the construction of a new terminal. Besides this, a new control tower and VIP terminal north of the main terminal were also built. The project became part of a "speed campaign", in which thousands of workers were enlisted to complete it quickly. On 15 September 2017, about 6:30am KST, North Korea fired a Hwasong-12 missile from the airport. The missile travelled 3,700 kilometers (2,300 mi) and reached a maximum height of 770 kilometers (480 mi).

The airport was closed to international travel in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened in 2023 with the resumption of Air Koryo flights to Beijing and Vladivostok. In July 2025, Nordwind Airlines began regularly scheduled service to Moscow-Sheremetyevo initially operating only once a month, before gradually increasing to twice a week.