Cambodia’s national flag carrier ready for post-pandemic plans

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia’s national flag carrier Cambodia Angkor Air announced on July 28 that its business operations are optimistic and it has well prepared to strengthen domestic flights and expand international ones when the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.

The Khmer Times quoted Chairman of Cambodia Angkor Air Tekreth Samrach as saying that in 2009, Cambodia Angkor Air was the only airline in Cambodia that served both national and international customers.

By the end of 2019, the firm expanded its flight routes domestically and internationally to China’s Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Haikou; and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

Norinda Khek, communication and public relations director of Cambodia Airports – which manages three international airports in the country – said the three airports handled 410 inbound and outbound flights in the first three weeks of July, with nearly 85 percent of them from and to Phnom Penh International Airport, down 95 percent compared to the same period last year.

Minister in charge of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) of Cambodia Mao Havannall recently said that the number of air passengers to Cambodia increased after the government lifted the ban on entry for citizens from six countries, including Iran, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the US in June 2020.

According to Havannall, in the last two months, the number of visitors to Phnom Penh International Airport has increased to about 1,000 per day, from only 160 per day in April and May.

However, from August 1, Cambodia will suspend flights from Indonesia and Malaysia until the disease is controlled in the two Southeast Asian nations, he added.

The Cambodian Ministry of Health on the same day reported one more COVID-19 case, lifting the total number of infections in the country to 226./.