Cambodia wants Macau link

PHNOM PENH  Cambodia signaled its interest in opening a scheduled airline route between Phnom Penh and Macau in addition to charter flights run by Naga Corporation a casino operator in Cambodia.
Phnom Penh Post quoted Tourism Minister Thong Khon saying Prime Minister Hun Sen proposed a direct air link during last week’s Global Tourism Economic Forum hosted in Macau.
“Macau agreed with our proposal saying it would consider authorising direct flights to Cambodia, but would recommend that airlines develop more charter flights, or state-subsidised [scheduled services],” the minister confirmed to the Post.
Bassaka Air, a joint venture between state-owned Chinese travel firm China International Travel Services and casino and hotel operator Naga Corp, introduced charter flights earlier this year.
inside no 1The airline claims it currently operates two charter flights weekly between Macau and Phnom Penh.
It also claims a readiness to increase charter flights and to serve additional Cambodian destinations, according to Bassaka Air representative in Macau, Ng Tong Mio.
“We plan to ask permission to have three charter destinations… with one flight daily to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville respectively.”
The flight connections with Macau would attract Chinese gamblers to fly to Phnom Penh to visit the Naga casino and possibly another casino in Sihanoukville.
However, recent tourist statistics challenge the claim that the airline is successfully operating weekly charters between Macau and Phnom Penh.
According to Ministry of Tourism data, only 276 Macau residents travelled to Cambodia during the first eight month of this year by all means of transport. This is well below the threshold that a commercial airline would consider to justify scheduled services using either a A320, or B737, the aircraft of choice for short-haul regional services.
Assuming Bassaka Air’s passengers are entering the country through official immigration checkpoints there are hardly enough tourists from Macau to justify a single weekly charter let alone two every week.
The airline has two 150-seat A320s in its fleet used to fly domestic services from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap that were launched in December 2014. It began charter flights to Macau on behalf of Naga Corp March this year. It is a revived version of the former airline PP Air.

sourced:ttrweekly.com