Chinese carrier Spring Airlines plans to start flying to the North Korean capital Pyongyang next year, making it only the third airline to fly scheduled services to the isolated country.
The budget carrier has applied to run four fights a week from Shanghai’s Pudong airport to Pyongyang, beginning next February.
It is still awaiting approval from both the North Korean and Chinese authorities.
"Air Koryo had launched some charter flights to North Korea previously, targeting leisure travellers and demand seemed to be pretty strong," a spokesman for Spring Airlines said.
Aside from North Koran national carrier Air Koryo, Air China operates at least two flights a week year-round to Pyongyang.
The latest available data from China shows 237,000 tourists visited North Korea in 2012, which was double the number just two years previously.
The vast majority of these are Chinese nationals with an estimate 6,000 Westerners visiting annually.
