Cambodia upgrades airport

SIHANOUKVILLE Expansion and other improvements at Sihanoukville International Airport are underway, that will extend the runway and terminal capacity to 500,000 passengers a year.

Phnom Penh Post quoted Cambodia Airports’ communications director, Khek Norinda, saying the upgrades will enable the airport to attract more flights in the future.

The expansion is part of a USD2 billion investment in the kingdom’s three international airports — Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville – through to 2040.

In Sihanoukville ,it will extend the existing passenger terminal floor space by 80% to 4,800 square metres, the director said.

Work will also be carried out to strengthen and widen the airport’s single 2,500-metre runway and will include a new taxiway to improve airside capacity and accommodate larger aircraft. A plan to extend the runway will also be studied.

The terminal and runway expansions are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017 or early 2018.

The airport is expect to receive up to 500,000 passengers a year by 2020, the report said.

This year, the airport is projected to handle 150,000 passengers.

For the first 11 months of the year, the airport welcomed 130,638 passengers increasing 53.88% from 84,897 visits during the same period last year, according to Cambodia Airports’ data.

Last year, the airport attracted 94,630 passengers an improvement of 118.04% compared to 43,400 visits in 2014.