Launch dates of new Cambodian airlines

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                 / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

Two new Cambodian airlines owned by Chinese and Cambodian investors are planning to launch domestic flights in September 2014. They are Apsara International Air (Apsara Air, in short) and Bassaka Air.

Apsara Air has received its first Airbus A320 aircraft on 8 September 2014 and will launch daily flights from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh on 20 September 2014 before launching flights to 15 Chinese cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen and at a later stage to Seoul-Incheon, Tokyo-Narita and Russia.

Apsara Air is co-owned by Air Hanuman, an airline ticket wholesaler based in Siem Reap which previously operated charter flights to Utapao from Siem Reap in 2012 using TonleSap Airlines aircraft. The Chief Marketing Officer of Apsara Air, Chris Ho, is Air Hanuman's founder.

Apsara Air's logo shows a Cambodian Apsara dancer whose wings look similar to the wings of Japan Airlines' crane. It has been endorsed as an authentic Cambodian airline.

Bassaka Air previously known as PP Air plans to operate charter flights only but it did not reveal the exact date of its launch in September 2014.

Cambodia Bayon Airlines partially owned by China's AVIC will launch scheduled flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and Silhanouville on 21 December 2014.

If Bassaka Air successfully launched flights later this month, Cambodia will have six private airlines by end of December. They include Cambodia Bayon Airlines, Skywings Asia Airlines, Wat Phnom Airlines, Legacy Air, Bassaka Air and Apsara Air.