China Southern Airlines (CSA) will open a new airline between Beijing and Pyongyang from late April to late October, the CSA office in Pyongyang said on Monday.

The CSA office said the first flight will take off from Beijing on April 26. Aircraft Boeing 737-800 or Boeing 737-300 will make the two-way flights every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The last flight is on Oct. 30.

Currently, there is only one skyway between Beijing and Pyongyang, which is operated by Air Korea with two flights every week.

As the friendly cooperation between the two countries is getting deeper, the exchanges of personnel have increased.

According to incomplete statistics, 240,000 Chinese visited the North Korea last year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2006)