By Sok Lak
Cambodia’s Airport this week predicted that the air passengers would increase about 10.4 percent while the number of flights will increase 7.7 percent as they expect to receive 4 million passengers a year.
The announcement was made during the Cambodian Airport launch Winter Season flights scheduled from October 30, 2011 to March 24, 2012 to increase flight activities as well as the Airport services to meet the demands of passengers.
“It is a big season in Cambodia, so there will be a lot of tourists coming into Cambodia. For the coming winter season, the total of weekly flights to and from Phnom Penh international will increase to 209 while at Siem Reap international the increase will be 218,”
Emmanuel Menanteau, Chief Executive Officer of SCA, airport management services said at a press conference on October 28 at Cambodia’s Airport.
“The two airlines will operate flights to Cambodia in this season as well. They are Tiger Airway of Singapore that will start its daily flights between Singapore and Phnom Penh with daily flights between Singapore and Siem Reap using an A 320 (180 Seats), and Easter Jet from Korea will start its operations for weekly flights between Korea, Seoul, and Siem Reap will use a B-737 (149 seats),” Emmanuel Menanteau added.
Another two routes have also been added to match the schedule of flights. One of them is Cambodia Angkor Air which will start operating thrice weekly between Sihanoukville and Siem Reap from December 14 using an ATR70-65 seat. One more route is made by Myanmar Airways International which will launch a triangular flight between Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Yangoon from November 2 using a A320-162 seats.
“The frequency of flights also increased Asiana Airlines has reported as well as China Southern Airline, Korean Air, Lao Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Vietnam Airline,” He stressed.
At the same time, the Aircraft type is upgrading in which Air France will operate 309-seat B777 for route Paris- Phnom Penh, Bangkok Airways will operate a 120-seat A319 and a 162-seat A320 for routes running between Bangkok-Phnom Penh, and Korean Air will operate a 280-seat A330 for routes between Seoul and Phnom Penh.
Emmanuel Menanteau stressed that, overall, and against the backdrop of the significant growth of Cambodia’s economy, the region’s steady rise of traffic should be carried out throughout the year 2012.
“However, a few uncertainties regarding worldwide business climate may impact the demand of air transport such as the economic situation in Europe regarding the issue of sovereign debts and the extent of the spill-over onto the worldwide economy plus the slowdown of the US economy and the volatility of fuel costs.”
The airlines operating at Cambodia International Airport are up to 23 in which 19 use Phnom Penh International Airport and 16 operate at Siem Reap international airport and one operates at Sihanouk International airport, Emmanuel Menanteau mentioned. There are three Cambodia airlines: Cambodia Angkor Air, Tonlesap Airlines and Skywings Asia Airlines. Samork Sreng, a Commercial Director of Cambodia Airport said that the Phnom Penh International Airport had received 1.469 million passengers in the first ten months of this year with an increase of 11 percent if comparing to the same period last year.
“We expected to receive up to 1.8 million passengers at the end of this year while the Siem Reap International Airport got 1.396 million passengers with an increase of 14 percent and is expected to receive up to 1.7 million at the end of this year.”
He added: “The capacity of the Siem Reap airport supports 6 million passengers 6 million while Sihanouk International Airport can receive to 10 million if Sihanouk International Airport is expanded, so there will be no problem for Cambodia to host the ASEAN summit next year.”
Source: The Southeast Asia Weekly, October 30-November 5, 2011, Vol. 5, Issue 44, Page 1
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