North Korea's Air Koryo opens online booking

SEOUL (REUTERS) - The world's only one star airline, North Korea's Air Koryo, has finally joined the Internet age with an online booking service, offering flights to and from the isolated state to Beijing and Shenyang in China as well as Vladivostok in Russia.

The website (http: www.airkoryo.com.kp/en/home) says it started operations in August and promises "a convenient reservation ... day and night".

Air Koryo is the only airline ranked as a one-star service by Skytrax global airline ranking, a rating that represents "very poor quality performance".

The airline uses mainly Russian-built Tupolev aircraft on its international flights although older, Soviet-era aircraft are also still used domestically.