Siem Reap Airways Hopes To Lift Off Again

Siem Reap Airways has fulfilled all the requirements under Cambodian law for it to resume flights in the country almost a year after being banned from the skies by the government and appearing on the European Commission?s so-called black list for airlines banned from flying to the European Union?s 27member states, officials said Thursday.

?I was advised verbally by [the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation] that Siem Reap Airways had satisfied all the requirements under Cambodian law and that all that remained was to register an aircraft in Cambodia,? said Terry Alton Airways. ?We expect a letter to that effect sometime this week.?

Mak Samol, who is chief flight operations inspector for the SSCA and is handling Siem Reap Airways?case, confirmed yesterday that the airline has met its requirements and that the SSCA was currently waiting for the company to deliver an aircraft to be registered in Cambodia. Once an aircraft is delivered, the final processes and tests can be completed, he said.

?We will do the demo flight, we will do an evacuation procedure and then once everything is completed we will issue the air operating certificate,? said Mr Samol.

Airlines are free to schedule flights in the country once they have received such a certificate from the government.

Mr Samol added that the SSCA would issue an air operating certificate to an airline, foreign or domestic, as long as they fulfilled all the government?s requirements.

Him Sarun, chief of cabinet at the SSCA, said this week that he expected Siem Reap Airways to be up and running before the end of the year.

Mr Alton said that Siem Reap Airways was planning ?a number of new routes? and that flights from Sihanouk International Airport in Preah Sihanouk province, which currently has no scheduled flights, had not been excluded from consideration.

?We believe that there are strong indications as to the tourist potential there,? he said

Sourced = The Cambodia Daily