Cambodia’s newest air carrier, Mekong Airlines, signed a three-year lease on two planes at a ceremony Monday morning.
The US-based International Lease Finance Corp is providing Mekong Airlines with two 150-passenger Airbus A-320s. The airplanes were built in 1992 and 1995—“a relatively young fleet” according to Mekong Airlines’ director of corporate affairs, Anthony Sandford.
At a separate ceremony in France Friday, Mekong Airlines’ Executive Director Ian Scheyer closed the lease on a third plane, a 48-passenger ATR-42 aircraft.
Sandford said 51 percent of the company is owned by Cambodian nationals, with the remainder owned by Australians. He avoided speaking specifically about financing, but did say Mekong Airlines had raised more than $100 million to cover its five-year start-up plan.
A statement issued by Mekong Airlines later Monday said the company is registered in Cambodia under a corporate agreement between VIA Aviation Limited and Hun Kim Leng Investments. The statement also said Mekong Airlines intends to fill the market relinquished by Royal Air Cambodge, after it suspended operations in October.
Mekong Airlines’ Commercial Manager Ross Pollock said the airline will bring “a superior level of service” to the region on domestic flights between Phnom Penh, Battambang and Siem Reap, and flights abroad to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China.
Mekong Airlines is also pursuing code-sharing relationships with larger international carriers. In such agreements, different airlines carry each other’s passengers in an effort to make more convenient connections for long-distance destinations. Pollock said Mekong Airlines hopes to link with Europe, North America and northern Asia.
Pollock also said Mekong Airlines will expand its fleet to five airplanes within the first six months of business and could offer new destinations to India, Japan and Beijing.
Mekong Airlines’ maiden flight, from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, is scheduled for Aug 6.
