BEIJING: Flag carrier Air China said on Wednesday it had delayed the launch of regular North Korea flights, insisting the move was not linked to the regime's failure to meet a deadline to disable its atomic plants.

Air China had planned to start operating the first of three weekly flights between Beijing and Pyongyang on Wednesday but has postponed the launch until March, said Han Xiao, a marketing executive with the company.

"As far as I know, it is due to a busy flight schedule during the Spring Festival," she told AFP.

Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is regularly marked by massive travel as Chinese head home to spend it with their families. This year it will occur in early February.

The announcement late last year that Air China would begin flying to North Korea was seen at the time as a sign of warming ties amid progress on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

However, uncertainty has re-entered the equation, as North Korea failed to complete the disablement of its nuclear plants and did not hand over a complete declaration of its nuclear activities by a December 31 deadline.

Han denied that Air China's decision to delay the flight was motivated by politics.

"I think the delay is indeed due to the organisation of the flight schedule. It's not that complicated," she said.

Air Koryo, North Korea's flag carrier, is currently the only airline plying the route.

China Southern, the nation's largest carrier by fleet size, previously also transported passengers between the two cities but later halted operations.

According to South Korean and Japanese media, this was in response to North Korea's nuclear weapons test in October 2006.


- AFP/so