CAMBODIA AIRPORTS                                                                                                  OCTOBER 2011 ISSUE<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Cambodia Angkor Air schedules regular liaisons to Sihanoukville and

opens up the Kingdom’s coastal area

Cambodia’s national flag carrier announced that, following a meeting of shareholders held on September 23, it was stepping up its domestic routes by opening a new liaison between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. The launch of the thrice-weekly scheduled flights is due this coming December 14. Cambodia Angkor Air will operate an ATR-72 aircraft on this route.

The national carrier states that the shareholders’decision to further developing its opera-tions and services, especially adding flights to Sihanouk-ville, is “in harmonywith the Royal Govern-ment of Cambodia’s vision for promoting the tourism industry in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Cam­bodia Angkor Air’s commitment to infrastructure development and in response to increased demand of domestic and international air tra-velers.”

The expansion plan also includes:

• Launch in December of sched­uled flights between Siem Reap and Seoul (South Korea);

• The addition of one more A-321 in the fleet to raise the total to 4 aircraft (two ATR-72s and two A-321s);

• Expansion of the fleet to 15 air­craft and launch of new routes to Japan, China, South Korea and throughout the ASEAN region in the next coming years.

Established in 2009, Cambodia Angkor Air made its maiden flights on July 27 the same year, with one ATR bound to Siem Reap (the city home to the UNESCO World Heri­tage Angkor archaeological tem­ples park) while the second aircraft flew to Sihanoukville (the Kingdom’s deep sea port and main resort town).  Cooperation between the national carrier and Cambodia Airports, the concessionaire of Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanouk interna­tional airports had rapidly gained momentum.  Mr Emmanuel MENANTEAU, CEO of Cambodia Airports, highlights the spirit of cooperation between the two companies, especially in the view of the coming flights to Sihanoukville: “The international airports fully support Cambodia Angkor Air and having the na­tional carrier flying to Sihanouk International Airport is definitely a key asset to develop the infra­structure. Also, Regular flights to Sihanoukville heralds a new era for the Kingdom’s tourism landscape; Cambodia is to become a global tourism destination with a com­plete range of offers from heritage to leisure and eco-tourism.”

Sihanouk International Airport was re-commissioned in 2007 after it had been incorporated in the net­work of international airports man­aged by Cambodia Airports. Follow­ing a major overhauling, including the doubling of the terminal ca­pacity (to accommodate 700,000 passengers per annum) and the extension of the runway to 2,500 meters from 1,400 meters, it was declared international in 2010 and has been fully operational.  In the view of promoting the coast­al area and Sihanoukville, Cambo­dia Airports, in close partnership with the Ministry of tourism, lo­cal hotel operators (Sokha Hotels and Resorts) resort develo-pers and other stakeholders, have organized a series of Fa­miliarization Trips. Over a period of two years, tour operators (TO) and media from South Korea, Japan, France, Chi­na and Malaysia have been intro­duced to the sea & sun market opportunities in Cambodia.  Impacts and returns following the Fam Trips have been promising. Mode Tour, a key player of the South Korean travel industry, sells package tours including stays in Sihanoukville while other TOs have expressed interest in taking the same path, especially when car-riers operate scheduled flights.

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