Bangkok Airways to end Siem Reap-Phnom Penh flights in October

Bangkok Airways, the regional airline based in Bangkok, Thailand, will stop its service between Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and Siem Reap in Thailand when the aviation agreement between Cambodia and Thailand expires on October 25, 2009, and Cambodia will not renew the licence.

Bangkok Airways has been operating daily flights between Phnom Penh and the tourist destination of Siem Reap, which is home to the famed Angkor Wat temples, since November 2008 after, Siem Reap Airways, the subsidiary of Bangkok Airways, was grounded by the Cambodia State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) over safety concerns.

Dr Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, the founder of Bangkok Airways, was given an interim permit in October 2008 to operate 4 flights a day between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in place of Siem Reap Airways.

The European Union (EU) had, in 2008, banned Siem Reap Airways from flying to its member-countries for the airline having failed to comply with safety norms.

At present, many foreign airlines, including Qatar Airways and Japan Airlines, operate non-stop flights to Cambodia.

The website bangkokpost.com quoted an aviation analyst as saying that Cambodia’s decision not to extend the agreement for Bangkok Airways to operate on the Phnom Penh- Siem Reap route when it expires October 25, 2009, seems to have been made with a view to boosting Cambodia Angkor Air, the new national airline of Cambodia, which was launched on July 28, 2009, to push tourism in the country.

It may be noted that tourism is the sole source of foreign exchange for the cash-strapped kingdom of Cambodia – the country that is still in the process of recovering from about 3 decades of internal strife which came to an end in 1998.

The Phnom Penh Post quoted Mao Havannal, secretary of state at Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA), as saying that the decision was made to give a boost to Cambodia Angkor Air as well as promote tourism in Cambodia.  The country is aiming at attracting up to 3 million tourists a year by 2010.

Kao Sivorn, director of operations of the SSCA, said the decision is “a commercial one” with a view to supporting Cambodia’s new national airline, adding that Bangkok Airways is free to reach a code-share agreement with Cambodia’s Civil Aviation Authority so that Bangkok Airways’ passengers can fly between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

In a press release, the privately owned Bangkok Airways, said that Cambodian Civil Aviation Authority’s decision not to extend the airline’s licence to operate in Cambodia will have a “minimal impact” on its business since it involved a flight lasting half an hour.

However, an official of Bangkok Airways was quoted by the media as admitting that the airline has had high expectations of establishing its presence in Cambodia.