Cambodia’s newest and biggest airport opens in Siem Reap, the gateway to UNESCO-listed Angkor

Cambodia’s newest and biggest airport opens in Siem Reap, the gateway to UNESCO-listed Angkor

Cambodia’s newest and biggest airport opened to commercial operations in the province of Siem Reap in the country’s northwest this week.

The China-funded Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport is now the main gateway to one of the country’s most popular tourist sites, the UNESCO-listed Angkor Archaeological Complex.

On Monday morning, a flight operated by Thailand’s Bangkok Airways was the first to land at the new airport, which is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away from the protected area.

Using the International Air Transport Association-designated code SAI, it replaces Siem Reap International Airport (REP), which first opened in 1932 and is only a few kilometers away from the Angkor complex.

The new airport, funded by China as part of its Belt and Road Initiative at a cost of about $1.1 billion, was designed to initially handle 7 million passengers a year – 2 million more than REP – and has a 3,600-meter-long runway.

According to the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, it’s the first overseas international airport to be constructed under a “Build-Operate-Transfer” model by Chinese enterprises and is operated and managed by the Yunnan Aviation Industry Investment Group. Designated a “4E airport,” it can accommodate larger commercial planes, including many of those used on global long-haul routes.

Source: CNN