Cambodia’s newest carrier, First Cambodia Airlines, is scheduled to make its first international flight from Phnom Penh on Feb 23, a company official said.
The joint venture, owned by Cambodian businessman Okhna Sour Pheng, who also owns the Hong Kong Center in Phnom Penh, and an unnamed Chinese businessman, will fly three routes—from Phnom Penh to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou, the capital of China’s Guangdong province, said the airline’s operations manager Thach Ouk.
The airline’s single French-made Air-Bus 320 seats 161 and will operate nine return flights a week, with three return flights to each destination, he said.
“We are now rushing to prepare our first flight operation,” Thach Ouk said.
One staff member, who declined to be named, said the airline’s management is discussing how to promote the new business and attract passengers. But, it has yet to determine ticket prices.
The staff member said the airline would begin selling tickets at the company’s head office on Norodom Boulevard within the next two weeks.
First Cambodia Airlines will be the first Cambodian-owned airline to fly internationally since Mekong Airlines grounded its Boeing 737-500 last May.
Mekong Airlines, which was sold to Malaysian entrepreneurs in July under thousands of dollars of debt, was expected to resume flights in October. Company officials said it called off its reopening, citing a slow rebound in the industry due to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
First Cambodia Airlines’ co-owner Sour Pheng had originally planned for operations to begin last year, but delayed his plans because of the SARS scare, said Sek Bun Theoun, Hong Kong Center manager.
But, he said, the market is now ripe for First Cambodia Airlines’ opening.
Thach Ouk said he expected the demand for flights to increase, particularly between Cambodia and China.
“I don’t see the amount of business to China dropping. I have seen it continue to grow,” he said.
Thach Ouk said First Cambodia Airlines would not compete directly with major foreign airlines, such as Bangkok Airways or Thai Airways, and would not share any routes with any domestic airlines.
Though he would not disclose the new company’s operation costs, Thach Ouk said, “I think almost all of the airlines have raised concern about the high rate of taxes, fuel and the cost of landings and take offs.”
He said First Cambodia Airlines would try to reduce fuel costs by buying the bulk of its fuel from Singapore and Malaysian companies, which can offer cheaper rates than Cambodian gasoline companies.
In recent years, the government has championed its “open skies” policy to encourage airline competition, at the same time wooing investors into Cambodia’s airline industry.
First Cambodia Airlines has hired some former employees of the now defunct national carrier Royal Air Cambodge, said Chea Aun, director general for the State Secretariat for Civil Aviation.
Royal Air Cambodge, which was chaired by Minister of Cabinet Sok An, halted flights in 2001.
