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https://www.nknews.org/2020/06/north-ko ... sanctions/
North Korea may have planned to acquire two Russian planes, despite sanctions
Aircraft in partial Air Koryo livery linked to Russian firm
with history dealing to North Korea and small Kyrgyz airline
June 30, 2020
Signs of a deal first surfaced last summer,
when two Russian Tupolev-204s
— of which the airline already owns two —
were seen parked at an airport in the Caucasus painted in an incomplete Air Koryo livery.
In February 2020,
it was revealed the planes were being leased by a small Kyrgyz airline,
and NK News can now report evidence
pointing to a failed North Korean attempt to acquire a familiar model of plane in a changed sanctions landscape.
ALL DRESSED UP WITH NOWHERE TO FLY
The two planes, Tu-204-100 models (serial numbers 64046 and 64049),
were operated by the Moscow-based Red Wings Airlines until 2018,
when they made their way to the Mineralnye Vody airport in the Russian Caucasus.
According to Planet Labs satellite imagery,
they were painted in the incomplete Air Koryo livery around July-August 2019
by the company S7 Technics in facilities on the airport grounds.
As evident above,
the livery scheme of the two parked at the Russian airport
is identical to the one adopted by Air Koryo in recent years,
absent the Air Koryo text and logo on the side and North Korean flag on the tail.
S7 Technics confirmed to NK News last month that they carried out the job,
but declined to say whether the remaining elements were ever planned
to be painted in addition to the basic livery colors, saying this “information is confidential.”
A few months later, both were detected by the aviation tracking website Flight Radar 24
making what appear to be test flights around the Mineralnye Vody airport area,
with the 64046 flying on September 28 and November 3,
and the 64049 on the same days in addition to one on December 4.
But both aircraft remained parked at the airport as of mid-June 2020,
satellite imagery shows,
while a YouTube video shot at the airport in late February this year showed their liveries were still yet to be finished.
THE NK CONNECTION
In Air Koryo’s most recent purchase of a Tu-204 plane in March 2010 from the Russian airline Aviastar (tail P-633, serial number 64048),
the plane’s lessor, Ilyushin Finance Company (IFC), was reportedly on hand for the transfer ceremony.
IFC was also reportedly voicing interest back in 2006 in providing Air Koryo with the planes under long-term leases.
Both planes in the present case are listed on the IFC website
as having been leased out by the company,
though a company representative told NK News that IFC
“sold [them] … in 2019 and no longer has any relation to these aircraft,”
declining to disclose the buyer as it is “confidential.”
A screenshot of the Ilyushin Finance Company website on June 22 with the two planes in question
highlighted in yellow
But the Kyrgyz airline, Sky KG,
also currently claims they are leasing the aircraft,
declining to tell NK News from whom they are being leased or whether IFC is the current lessor.
Manager of the commercial department Svetlana Sarkulova
said in an email in April 2020 that the company intended to use the planes for
“a programe [sic] of charter flights to Saudi Arabia,”
without specifying departure points and saying dates also depend on the global COVID-19 situation.
She said “there will be [the] logo of SKY KG Airlines on the planes” and that “we do not work with Air Koryo.”
Sky KG lists “charter programs” on its website as including “aircraft leasing” as well,
pointing to the possibility a plan was once in place
for the airline to “wet lease” the planes to Air Koryo for flights
on what would have been fully Air Koryo-branded planes between Pyongyang and other destinations.
On Sky KG’s LinkedIn page, the service is described as
“wet leased aircraft on ACMI basis (short/long term),”
with ACMI meaning they provide the aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance.
The company declined to respond to multiple requests to clarify whether a relationship with Air Koryo existed in the past
and whether there were previously any plans to operate their newly-acquired Tu-204s in North Korea.
Such an arrangement would likely be intended to circumvent UN sanctions
preventing North Korea from purchasing new aircraft,
as well as the U.S. Treasury’s designation of Air Koryo.
But as the Treasury is known to go after companies wet leasing to sanctions targets
— such as when another Kyrgyz airline was designated for leasing to Iran in 2013 —
it is likely such an arrangement would also draw attention from the U.S.
The COVID-19 situation now creates additional obstacles to the two planes in question becoming operational,
and only their eventual flight or promised use under Sky KG branding
will solve the mystery over Air Koryo’s present involvement.
But with IFC, Sky KG, and S7 Technics all citing confidentiality
in order to avoid the topic of Air Koryo’s potential past connection to the case,
it remains possible that the two planes were either originally intended,
in anticipation of sanctions relief, to be sold to the North Korean carrier outright,
or that a wet lease scheme fell apart for unknown reasons.
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