reader Posted December 22, 2019 Posted December 22, 2019 From the Khmer Times Passenger traffic at Cambodian airports grew by 12 percent in the first eleven months of this year because of new air routes and new airlines being put into operation. Figures from Cambodia Airports, which manages the country’s three international airports, show that from January to November, passengers amounted to 10.6 million people. Phnom Penh International Airport and Sihanoukville International Airport saw the biggest traffic growth, while Siem Reap International Airport experienced a decline in traffic. Phnom Penh International Airport handled 5.5 million passengers, a 12 percent increase, and Sihanoukville International Airport hit a record high with a 177 percent increase to 1.5 million passengers. Siem Reap International Airport, on the other hand, saw passenger traffic fall 11 percent, to 3.5 million. “For Phnom Penh international Airport, the growth is driven by new airlines and routes,” said Khek Norinda, communications and public relations director at Cambodia Airports, citing the carrier Citylink’s new route between Jakarta and Phnom Penh and also Chinese carriers. “For Sihanoukville, new airlines and routes are the main engines of growth. In addition, domestic airlines switched their services from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville,” he said. For Siem Reap, some airlines stopped flying there. For example, Malaysia Airlines and domestic carriers switched their flights to Sihanoukville, he said. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia received 5.2 million foreign tourists from January to October this year, up 9.7 percent. Of that number, 3.7 million passed through the airports, up 12 percent during the period, the report read. Currently, Cambodia has five domestic airlines and 44 international airlines. https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50671831/kingdoms-air-passenger-traffic-grows-12-percent Quote