ANA may consider Cambodia service

PHNOM PENH  Cambodia’s civil aviation officials held discussions with Japan’s All Nippon Airways, last week, to explore the possibility of starting a direct flight between the two countries this year.

Phnom Penh Post quoted the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation spokesman, Sinn Chanserey Vutha, saying no specific details were available on the proposed flight, but he was confident All Nippon Airways would in the future establish a service.

“We only discussed the possibility of having a direct flight this year… they are interested… in the past there was a lack of market maturity to sustain commercial flights.”

Government officials are talking up the possibility of direct air links in local media to illustrate their efforts to support trade and tourism growth. However, airlines make their decision for commercial reasons and the decline in visitors, last year from Japan might delay the launch of scheduled airline services.

ANA could fly either to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, but commercially it would make more sense to establish direct charter flights first to Siem Reap to gauge market response.

Japan has considerable investments in Cambodia and also provides loans.

Last year, the two governments signed an agreement that would pave the way for Japanese airlines to use Cambodia as a gateway to serve other destinations in ASEAN. They would have the right to fly beyond Cambodian airports to neighbouring countries, but it would also require bilateral agreements with the third countries.

During January to October last year, 152,835 Japanese travelled to Cambodia down 12.7% from 175,081 visits during the same period in 2014, according to Ministry of Tourism’s Statistics and Tourism Information Department data.