Southern China Airlines began direct charter flights to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Monday, a senior aviation official confirmed.
The Chinese airline will fly a Boeing 737-500 between the two cities every Monday and Friday, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.
“They will try the flight two or three times and then assess the situation,” said Pok Sam Ell, the secretary of state of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation.
The national airline Royal Air Cambodge has been making direct flights to Guangzhou twice a week since the two countries signed a navigation agreement in 1996. Reciprocal plans were postponed because of political uncertainties and factional fighting in the capital in July 1997, Xinhua reported.
Southern China Airlines has 93 planes and is one of China’s three national carriers operating in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the past two years, Chinese investment in Cambodia, especially in the form of garment factories, has risen sharply.
(Additional reporting by The Associated Press)
