The national flag carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air
says it will launch a new route from Phnom Penh capital to Zhengzhou today, the
southern bank of the yellow river and the birthplace of the Yellow emperor of
the China People’s Republic (CPR).
Cambodia Angkor Air’s public relations and
branding division Deputy General Manager Sowath Panharidh said that Cambodia
Angkor Air said that that the flight number is K6 894 and will depart from
Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH) at an estimated time of 13.35 with
arrival at Zhengzhou at an estimated local time of 19.30. China is one hour
ahead of Cambodia.
Panharidh added that the return flight number
is K6 895 and will depart from Zhengzhou at an estimated time of 19:30 and
arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport at 22:55 on the same day.
“The flight from Phnom Penh capital to
Zhengzhou is once per week. This flight will be operated until Oct 24 and will
be updated with more schedules,” Panharidh added.
He said soon the national flag carrier will
operate flights from Phnom Penh to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh or Can Tho, a city in
southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region. He said the company is now seeking
approval from the Vietnamese aviation authority. “We are not sure which city we
will be allowed to fly to: Saigon or Can Tho,” he added.
“For domestic flights, the company is operating
flights from Phnom Penh-Siem Reap (REP)-Sihnaoukville, but it is not every
day.”
There has been a drop in traffic of people
travelling to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville airports of up to 75
percent in the last eight months, said Cambodia Airports.
There has also been a drop in cargo being flown
in and out of the country by up to 32 percent, said Cambodia Airports public
relations Director Khek Norinda at the three international airports. He added
this year has sharply dropped because of the pandemic. “We have seen some flights
start again but the resumption of air travel will be very slow. Even our
domestic flights have nearly come to a standstill. For instance at Siem Reap
International airport there are one to two weekly flights while no
international flights have been operating there since March. The fall of
freight is associated with the strong decline of commercial passenger flights:
Belly-hold cargo represents a big chunk of our cargo activities.”