Air traffic to the former tourist hotspot of Cambodia are still trending downward with a drop in January and February of almost 94 percent compared to the same period last year, according to officials at Cambodia Airports, the operator of the country’s three main airports.
In the first two weeks of February, 223 inbound and outbound scheduled flights took place at Cambodia’s three international airports. Officials said there was an average of 13 in-and-out daily flights at the three international airports, with most of them concentrated in Phnom Penh. The airport at Siem Reap, site of the famed Angkor Wat temple complex, handles only one or two domestic flights per week and Sihanoukville handles only about 10 domestic flights and four international flights to and from Guangzhou, China. Sihanoukville had previously been undergoing major redevelopment, mainly funded by Chinese investors.
Daily flights to and from Phnom Penh, the capital, totalled 29 on average with international routes including Singapore, Seoul, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen and Chengdu. Fewer than 900 inbound and outbound flights were recorded at the three international airports for the month of January alone.
Cambodia’s three international airports welcomed 2.13 million passengers (international, domestic and transit) in 2020, a 79 percent drop compared with 2019 figures, according to data from the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA). Phnom Penh International Airport received around 1.30 million passengers, a decrease of 76 percent, compared with the 5.49 million arrivals in 2019. Siem Reap International Airport had 618,663 passengers, down 83 percent from the 3.57 million landing in 2019. Sihanouk International Airport saw arrivals of 214,969 passengers, a drop of 86.3 percent from the 1.57 million passengers received in 2019. SSCA data showed Cambodia handling 49,983 tonnes of cargo at the nation’s three international airports. This represented a 31 percent drop from 2019’s figures. Most cargo traffic occurred at the Phnom Penh International Airport.
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