Direct flights to Shanghai Spring Airlines will soon operate direct Shanghai Phnom Penh flights.

Spring Airlines, China’s first and largest budget carrier, will begin operating direct flights between Phnom Penh and Shanghai as well as Shenzhen this month.
 

The Chinese airline will fly the Shanghai-Phnom Penh route three times weekly starting March 28.
 

Sin Chansereyvutha, spokesman for Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said that the route was to meet the rising demand of Chinese tourists keen to visit the kingdom.
 

“At the end of [last] year, Spring Airlines and others submitted flight schedules to the aviation body for approval and to set the date for flights to commence. They have rights to operate flights and if they don’t have any flights, it’s okay too,” he said. 

The airlines also has plans to operate direct flights between Phnom Penh and Shenzen, China’s technology hub, but that route won’t be operational until next month.
 

“Because of the limited scheduled flight times of major airports, most of our international flights are mid- and short-hauls between second- and third-tier Chinese cities and first- and second-tier foreign cities,” Chinese media quoted Zhang Wu’an, vice president of Spring Airlines, as saying.
 

“With our low-cost operating model and price advantages, we would like to further discover potential markets in second-and third-tier cities,” Mr. Zhang added.
 

In 2015, Spring Airlines began operating four flights a week between Siem Reap and Chengdu.
 

Industry players said the increasing number of direct flights to Cambodia reflects the government’s open sky policies which will attract both investors and tourists to Cambodia.
 

Pacific Asia Travel Association’s local branch chairman Thoun Sinan said that having more airlines serving Cambodia will bring down ticket prices which, in turn, will encourage more people to visit Cambodia.

Read more...