Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia has announced a direct flight between Thailand’s Phuket and Phnom Penh, which comes as part of the airline’s establishment of a network across Asia and its push into the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) market, the company has said.
The new route will be available four times a week starting June 1, AirAsia said.
Thai AirAsia operates nine international routes out of Phuket – to Siem Reap, Wuhan, Kunming, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Phuket-Phnom Penh will be the latest addition.
Strong network
Thai AirAsia CEO Santisuk Klongchaiya said the airline had carefully added routes to its regional flight bases as it looked to build a strong network of destinations.
“Phuket is a very important strategic flight base for Air-Asia that has grown steadily along with the addition of direct flights to CLMV cities such as Siem Reap,” he said. “With the positive response, we decided to add Phuket-Phnom Penh, connecting the Thai resort town to Cambodia’s capital.”
He said the route should well serve tourists as well as members of the business community in both countries.
The route will connect two of Asean’s top tourism destinations and provide the people of Phuket an easy route to Cambodia’s economic centre.
Cambodia is set to have direct air links with all Asean member states apart from Brunei this year, after Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Tuesday launched a new route connecting Manila with Phnom Penh.
The number of passengers arriving by air at the Kingdom’s three international airports last year increased 20 per cent to 10.5 million compared to 2017, according to figures from Cambodia Airports.
