![\"\"](\"https:\/\/capitalcambodia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/photo_2020-01-09_18-03-40.jpg\")
Mr Fernandes told the prime minister that AirAsia Cambodia, as AirAsia\u2019s new subsidiary company, would be needed to handle an increasing number of air travelers from Malaysia to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prime minister, in turn, replied that he was behind Mr Fernandes\u2019s decision 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public Works and Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said AirAsia\u2019s decision to start a new subsidiary company in Cambodia reflected the aviation industry\u2019s confidence in the country\u2019s open skies policy. \u201cCambodia\u2019s open skies policy promotes Asean connectivity and this in turn allows more goods to be transported and more people to travel to other countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
AirAsia currently flies daily from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. According to the Cambodia Airports, passenger traffic at Cambodian airports grew by 12 percent in the first eleven months of this year because of new air routes and new airlines being put into operation.<\/p>\n
Figures from Cambodia Airports, which manages the country\u2019s three international airports, show that from January to November, passengers amounted to 10.6 million people.<\/p>\n
Phnom Penh International Airport and Sihanoukville International Airport saw the biggest traffic growth, while Siem Reap International Airport experienced a decline in traffic.<\/p>\n
Phnom Penh International Airport handled 5.5 million passengers, a 12 percent increase, and Sihanoukville International Airport hit a record high with a 177 percent increase to 1.5 million passengers.<\/p>\n
Siem Reap International Airport, on the other hand, saw passenger traffic fall 11 percent, to 3.5 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Phnom Penh international Airport, the growth is driven by new airlines and routes,\u201d said Khek Norinda, communications and public relations director at Cambodia Airports, citing the carrier Citylink\u2019s new route between Jakarta and Phnom Penh and also Chinese carriers.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Sihanoukville, new airlines and routes are the main engines of growth. In addition, domestic airlines switched their services from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville,\u201d he said. For Siem Reap, some airlines stopped flying there. For example, Malaysia Airlines and domestic carriers switched their flights to Sihanoukville, he said.<\/p>\n
According to the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia received 5.2 million foreign tourists from January to October this year, up 9.7 percent. Of that number, 3.7 million passed through the airports, up 12 percent during the period, the report read. Currently, Cambodia has five domestic airlines and 44 international airlines.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AirAsia, the Malaysia-based low-cost airline aims to establish Cambodia Air Asia in the Kingdom of Cambodia, says AirAsia\u2019s Group President Bo Lingam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":null,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":null,"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[735],"yoast_head":"\n