Cambodia Angkor Air, the national flag carrier, has confirmed that it will operate on a new route from capital Phnom Penh to Zhengzhou. Zhengzhou is the capital of east-central China’s Henan province and situated on the southern bank of the yellow river.

The carrier will operate its flight K6 894 that will depart from Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH) at an estimated local time of 01:35 pm and arrive in Zhengzhou at an estimated local time of 07:30 pm. The return flight K6 895 will depart from depart from Zhengzhou at an estimated time of 07:30 pm and arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport at 10:55 pm on the same day. Cambodia is one hour behind of China.

Mr. Sowath Panharidh, Public relations and branding division Deputy General Manager of the airlines, has confirmed that the national carrier will operate its flight from Phnom Penh to Zhengzhou once a week. In addition, the flight will operate until October 24, 2020 and more schedules will be updated as soon as possible.

He also said that the national flag carrier Angkor air will operate flights from the capital to Ho Chi Minh City or Can Tho city in Vietnam. However, the company is seeking several approvals from the Vietnamese aviation authority and it is still not decided that the carrier will be allowed to fly to which city:  Ho Chi Minh or Can Tho.

In regards to domestic flights, Cambodia Angkor Air is operating flights from Phnom Penh, Siem Reap (REP) and Sihnaoukville, but they are not regular flights. Cambodia Airports has said that the flow of people to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville airports has been dropped by 75 per cent in the past 8 months.

Mr. Khek Norinda, Cambodia airports public relations Director, has said that the flow of export and import of cargo has also been dropped by 32 per cent at the 3 international airports, due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

He stated during a press release, “We have seen some flights start again but the resumption of air travel will be very slow. Even our domestic flights have nearly come to a standstill. For instance at Siem Reap International airport there are one to two weekly flights while no international flights have been operating there since March. The fall of freight is associated with the strong decline of commercial passenger flights: Belly-hold cargo represents a big chunk of our cargo activities.”

In regard to total COVID-19 transmission in Cambodia, the country has reported a total number of 275 confirmed cases and no death caused by the virus. However, 274 patients tested positive to the virus have completely recovered, as of Monday (Sept 21).