Five latest Cambodia-based passenger airlines are expected to start operations in the approaching yr, paving the best way for higher connections to domestic and international destinations in Asia and Europe.
Post office in Phnom Penh reports that Small Planet Airlines has already received Air Operator Certificate (AOC) approval, while KC International Airlines, Air Siem Reap, Prince International Airlines and Cambodia Airways are expected to receive them early next yr.
Lithuanian airline Small Planet Airlines, which often offers charter flights to the Mediterranean from Lithuania, Poland and Germany, will reportedly move a part of its fleet to Cambodia in the course of the European winter to offset the low season.
Small Planet Airlines Cambodia CEO Erikas Zubrus said the airline would initially look to fly to Hong Kong, mainland China and South Korea, and possibly to Thailand, Japan and Oceania in the longer term.
Meanwhile, Sino-Cambodian three way partnership KC International Airlines – to not be confused with Phnom Penh-based JC International Airlines, which recently launched in March – is anticipated to receive its AOC early next yr and plans to launch in January, specializing in mainland Chinese market.
Prince International Airlines and sister carrier Cambodia Airways, each backed by Chinese investors, also aim to launch operations early next yr. The former will concentrate on leisure and native business charter customers and can reportedly launch with three A320s and two Gulfstream jets, while the latter will concentrate on scheduled services to Japan, South Korea, ASEAN countries and Europe.
Finally, Air Seam Reap, jointly owned by Bangkok Airways and Cambodian tycoon Ly Yong Phat, plans to base itself at Siem Reap International Airport.
The airline joins the ranks of carriers trying to tap the Cambodian aviation market. Earlier this yr, a low-cost carrier from Vietnam, Vietjet restarted international flights between Hanoi and Siem Reapwhich originally launched in November 2014 but was later suspended in early 2016 attributable to “market issues”.
Meanwhile, based in Dubai Emirates has began every day flights to Phnom Penh via Yangon this summer, marking the primary service to the country.
Cambodia has a status as certainly one of the simplest markets for startup airlines to acquire an AOC and is especially attractive to operators targeting the rapidly growing Chinese market. However, the Kingdom has proven to be a difficult market, with an inventory of greater than 30 defunct airlines.
The most up-to-date of those was Apsara International Air, which launched in October 2014 but stopped operations of its sole Airbus 320 inside weeks after suffering huge losses in a price battle with other domestic carriers.
In a report released earlier this yr, Australian aviation research and consulting firm Center for Aviation (CAPA) warned that start-up airlines could face serious difficulties in Cambodia’s already oversaturated aviation market.
It said existing local carriers – which on the time included Cambodia Angkor Air, Sky Angkor Airlines, Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Bassaka Air – had pinned their hopes on expanding into China but lacked the size and resources to compete with foreign carriers on these routes . or one another.
Source: Phonm Penh Post | Business traveler
