By KANG SIEW LI


CAMBODIA’S flagship carrier First Cambodia Airlines Ltd said on Wednesday that it will increase its Airbus 320 flights between Phnom Penh and Kuala Lumpur to four times a week from three effective June 20.

“We see a lot of potential for growth between the two cities and hope that services will eventually increase to daily flights,” senior manager of commercial operations Richard Chan told reporters after a signing ceremony between the airline and a consortium of six local travel agents in Kuala Lumpur.

Chan said First Cambodia Airlines has been achieving a passenger load factor (the number of seats filled) of 80 per cent on flights between Phnom Penh and Kuala Lumpur since its launch in February this year.

He added that for its flights from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh, 60 per cent of the passengers are leisure travellers and 40 per cent business, while from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur, 65 per cent are student and labour traffic and the rest business.

The airline currently departs from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The additional flight has been scheduled to depart on Sunday.

The newly-launched official airline for Cambodia currently flies to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Guangzhou in China, with one aircraft in its fleet.

However, it expects to have two additional A320s by November and to start scheduled flights from Phnom Penh to destinations within Cambodia, such as Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Battambang, then.

“We will also begin flying to five more Chinese cities this year, namely Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen, Chengdu and Chongqing,” said Chan, adding that the airline also plans to start services to Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Besides expanding its operations using its own aircraft fleet, Chan said First Cambodia Airlines will also enter into interline agreements with other foreign carriers.

So far, it has established interline agreements with Garuda Indonesia and is in talks with Royal Brunei Airlines, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Austrian Airlines, Qantas Airways and British Airways.

The signing ceremony signified the formation of a consortium of six local travel agents, which will help to promote new tour packages to Cambodia.

Dubbed “First Cambodia Airlines Travel Alliance”, the consortium comprises JVD Tristan Tours & Travel Sdn Bhd, Globalite Travel & Tours (M) Sdn Bhd, Skyzone Tours & Travel Sdn Bhd, Wing Onn Travel (M) Sdn Bhd, Golden Deluxe Travel Service Agency Sdn Bhd and Mar Sin Thai Travel & Tour Sdn Bhd.

“As Cambodia is still developing its tourism, our airline would like to play a bigger role in bringing more tourists there. Similarly, we wish to transport more Cambodians to visit Malaysia,” said Chan.

For starters, the consortium is introducing four three- to five-day packages priced from RM848 to RM1,699. The packages include visits to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

“New packages will be added from time to time to cater to consumer demands and preferences,” said Skyzone Tours & Travel managing director Rocky Kho, adding that Indochina is a new destination among Malaysians.

In 2002, some 70,000 Malaysians visited Cambodia. No visa is required for a stay of less than 21 days.

I read this very article on the internet news website holamon. I bet my bottom dollar that Cambodia will be, if not already is, a very popular destination among Malaysians. A couple of my friends from KL have backpacked to Siem Reap during the uni hols, and they say that Angkor Wat is one of the most special places in southeast Asia. I don't need them to tell me that- I got hooked on Cambodia the moment I saw the photo of Angkor Wat when I was a kid. Seeing the lovely apsara dance just cemented it for me- I knew just had to go to Cambodia someday. The most well-known country in mainland southeast Asia among Malaysians is undeniably Thailand and many, including myself, go there for holidays, but nowadays, both Cambodia and Vietnam are the hot places to be, as more and more Malaysian become increasingly familiar with the other ASEAN countries in Indochina.

malaccan, that's very cool that you felt in love with Angkor Wat since you were a child. I hope your trip will be a very satisfying one whenever you get the chance to visit Cambodia .

Yeah, it's hard not love something like this:



And of course these Asara dancers:

^
It is hard not to love such things indeed. Cambodia will increase their revenue on tourism for as long as Hun Sen is gone and land mine is clear. I think people are still fear for their live because the political crime and unstable of Cambodia.